


You Never Forget Your First

by cvsossong



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (but he is still an asshole), (for like half a chapter), Alternate Universe - College/University, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Frak Buddies, Getting Together, M/M, Pet Names, Porn With Plot, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Smut, Steve Feels, Superhusbands, Tony Stark Has A Heart, fuck buddies, guess who's evolved to smut fics bitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-13 03:09:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2134830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cvsossong/pseuds/cvsossong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years ago, Steve had an unforgettable first night with his long- time crush, Tony Stark. Expecting to never see him again, Steve joins the Army, buffs up, and heads off to college to finish his education. Unfortunately, things get turned around when Steve finds himself a part of Tony's group after their friends start hooking up. Even more unfortunate is that Tony seems to have no memory of their night together.</p><p>And all this before they become fuck buddies. </p><p>Steve's life is really a mess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A First Time for Everything

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](http://halfway-punk-rock.tumblr.com/)

Steve moaned as he was slammed against the wall. Underneath them the bass continued to pound from the speakers, and the vibrations carried up through the walls and thrummed against his back. That combined with the lips on his and the hands on his hips were giving him _marvelous_ feelings.

It was the night of graduation and there was a huge party for all the seniors at one of the jocks’ house. Steve had agreed to go, only because Bucky and the football team were helping host it and Bucky had insisted that Steve needed to get out there and “make something out of high school”, whatever that meant.

At first it had been awful, just sitting around grimacing when the music got too loud and drinking shitty beer from plastic cups. But then he’d started drinking more beer, because he figured that if he drank enough he’d become immune to the noise, and it turned out he was right. And after that the party hadn’t been so bad.

It had gotten considerably better when he felt someone’s hands on his waist and warm breath on his neck. “What’re you doing all alone over here, hot stuff?” someone had whispered. Steve had turned, and standing there grinning at him was none other than Tony Stark.

Beautiful, wonderful Tony with his dark hair and gleaming eyes and wicked grin, who was one of the most popular guys in school. And who Steve had carried a massive crush for since freshman year science class. Tony was confident, arrogant, and a certified genius, and Steve had taken one look at him and his self-assured smirk and fallen madly in love.

“Wanna dance, cutie pie?” Tony asked. Steve nodded and Tony handed him another drink and pulled him over to the dance floor. Some thumping, bass- heavy song was playing now, and Tony tugged Steve’s hand until their bodies were pressed closely together. Steve swayed his hips a bit, putting a hand around Tony’s neck. Tony gripped Steve’s hips and swayed with him, close and hot and _so_ nice. “Shame I can’t see more of you in this light,” he said in Steve’s ear, keeping their bodies pressed close together. “All I can get a good look at are those gorgeous baby blues. Bet you’re a cutie all over, huh?”

He didn’t know who Steve was. He almost sighed in relief. It figured, since they’d really only had one class together before Tony started taking all advanced and AP courses. Besides, why would someone perfect and beautiful like Tony notice a scrawny nobody like Steve unless he was completely wasted?

Which he apparently was, even though he was handling his booze surprisingly well. There was a glaze in his eyes and he stumbled every once in a while, but Steve probably looked the same right about now so he couldn’t really judge. Besides, the extra shine in Tony’s eyes made the gold flecks in them pop out and that made Steve’s heart speed up.

“Feel like having some fun?” Steve managed to blurt out. In the dim light, he saw Tony grin wickedly and swallowed his nerves down with another gulp of beer. “You know what they say about going out with a bang.”

Tony laughed, loud and clear. He wrapped an arm around Steve’s waist and nuzzled at his neck. “I like your attitude, sunshine. Sounds like a plan to me. What do you say, feel like getting out of here and going someplace a little quieter?” And Steve really couldn’t say no to that.

And now they were in someone’s dark bedroom, and Steve was pushed against a wall with Tony grinding against him and biting at his neck. Progress.

Steve knew Tony was drunk, and he knew _he_ was drunk, but he couldn’t bring himself to care because in the fall Steve was joining the Army and Tony was going to MIT and they’d probably never see each other again, and damned if he didn’t want this more than anything right now. So he let Tony guide him to the bed and fell back against the covers with a sigh. He might just be some skinny, small asthmatic with a big mouth, but if he could just have this one night to remember he was pretty sure his life would be complete.

Tony mouthed his way back up Steve’s neck, nipping little bites and kisses along Steve’s jaw. Steve felt him grin against his skin when he let out another soft moan. “Fuck, that’s a really hot sound, gorgeous,” Tony murmured. “Do it again, would you?” He bit under Steve’s ear and sucked a little bruise there, and Steve moaned for him again. “That’s it, just like that.”

Steve slid his hands underneath Tony’s shirt and bit his lip at the feel of smooth, warm skin underneath his fingers. He was straining against his pants to the point of aching, but he was enjoying this far too much to care. Tony reached down and tore off Steve’s shirt and then his own, and pressed his lips to Steve’s collarbone and bit lightly before sucking, leaving a red mark that Steve was pretty sure would end up bruising. And fuck, the thought of Tony leaving a hickey had him shuddering all over again.

And then Tony was unbuckling his belt and sliding it off, and he hooked his thumbs in Steve’s belt loops and pulled them down slowly, trailing down Steve’s chest with his tongue as he did. God, Steve was going to die, he was hot and sweating and was going to die, but what a way to go.

Steve was sort of fading in and out at this point, lost in aroused bliss, and when he next came to focus they were both naked and Tony was back on top of him, biting and licking at his lips until Steve opened his mouth for him. His hands were back on Steve’s hips, drawing circles with his thumbs, fingers inching towards the curve of Steve’s ass. Steve felt Tony, hard and pressed against his thigh and fuck he was going to come just from that.

“Gimme a sec, baby,” Tony muttered, pulling away from Steve’s lips with a quick bite. He settled back on his knees and Steve took one glance at him and blushed down to his chest. Tony grinned and cocked an eyebrow. “That is just fucking adorable.” He grabbed his jeans and pulled out a small tube and a condom packet, tossing them next to Steve before throwing the jeans back on the floor and settling over him again. “You wanna top or shall I?” he asked, kissing the blush at Steve’s collarbone and rubbing his hands along Steve’s sides.

“Y-you,” Steve managed to stammer out.

“I can definitely work with that. Help me get this on, darling.” Pressing kisses under Steve’s ear, he slapped the condom wrapper in Steve’s hand and smirked when Steve blushed. “Never gets any less adorable.”

Steve fumbled with the wrapper and finally managed to get it open, and Tony obligingly leaned back for Steve to slide it on him, blushing harder as he did. Then Tony grabbed the lube and slicked up his fingers, pushing Steve back into the covers and sliding his first finger in all in one smooth motion.

And Steve was definitely dying now.

He groaned and lifted off the bed to follow Tony’s fingers, hoping to get as much as possible. “That’s it, sweetheart,” he heard Tony encourage him. “Ready for more?” he asked after a couple of minutes.

Steve nodded and Tony leaned back down and kissed him, pressing another finger in as he did. Steve gasped and Tony took the opportunity to lick into his mouth. Steve worked up the courage to slide his hands into Tony’s hair, clutching at the smooth dark strands and earning a quick huff from Tony.

“God, you’re so tight, angel,” Tony rasped, pressing into Steve further and trailing his lips to Steve’s ear.

Steve moaned and tugged Tony’s hair a little harder. “More,” he breathed.

Tony chuckled and obliged him, sliding in three fingers this time. It stung a bit at first, but Tony kept at it, nice and slow, and soon Steve was panting and squirming on the bed. “Ready for the best part, honey?” Tony asked. Steve nodded and Tony crooked his fingers, just a little bit. Steve cried out and arched off the bed because Tony had hit a spot that made Steve see stars and it felt fucking wonderful. “There it is,” Tony murmured triumphantly. He did it again and Steve groaned.

The music was still blasting and Steve could feel the bed vibrating from the noise, but at this point he was so focused on the noises he and Tony were making and the mind-blowing things Tony was doing with his fingers that it could have been a war zone for all Steve cared.

Eventually Tony pulled his fingers out and slicked himself up some. He thrust his hips forward a little bit, grinning wickedly when Steve flushed and grabbed at Tony’s hips to pull him in faster. “Patience, sunshine, we’re getting there,” he promised, stroking his hands up and down Steve’s thighs. And then he was moving against Steve and then he was inside of him, pressing insistently. Steve moaned and thrust back, and they started a rhythm that had the bed rocking and Steve’s head spinning. Tony leaned down and kissed him, hard and fast, and grabbed his ass firmly, guiding Steve further and further until, with one last thrust, Tony came with a muffled shout and Steve was lost in bliss.

When he came to, there was come on his stomach and Tony was leaning over him, pulling out and smirking. He rolled over and pulled off the condom, tying the end and tossing it casually into the trash can by the bed.

“How was that, pumpkin?” he asked, kissing Steve’s shoulder. Steve blushed at the pet name.

“That… it was amazing,” he finally mumbled, rolling onto his side to face Tony.

“Glad to hear it. Give me a couple minutes and we can go at it again if you want,” Tony replied, winking when Steve blushed.

Before he could respond, they heard police sirens and shouting downstairs. “Sounds like the party’s over,” Tony sighed. He stumbled off the bed and grabbed his pants. “Better get dressed before the cops come storming in.”

“Yeah. Yeah, sure.” Steve blinked and grabbed his own pants and shirt from the floor, pulling them on quickly and grabbing his shoes as he followed Tony out. His head was still spinning from the alcohol and sex, but he managed to get down the stairs and out the back door without falling. Once they were on the porch, Tony grabbed Steve’s wrist and pulled him in for one last kiss before pulling back with a wink and a mock salute.

“See you around, sweet cheeks.” With that, he hopped over the railing and ran over to one of the cars parked in the backyard.

Steve watched him go for a second before he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Steve, we gotta go,” Bucky called over the noise. He dragged Steve to his own car and pushed him towards the passenger side. “And what the hell are you wearing?”

Steve looked down and saw that he had accidentally grabbed Tony’s shirt on the way out—a large, gray MIT shirt that was faded and worn and had a hole in the bottom hem. Steve smiled and climbed in the car without a word.

“What the hell are you grinning about? You look like you just got laid.”

\--------------------

“…and so, with the rise of the Industrial Revolution, Europe and America would begin on a new path towards technological advancement paved by such inventions as…”

Tony groaned and banged his head against the desk quietly. Beside him, Rhodey elbowed him without taking his eyes off his notes.

“Pay attention,” he whispered. Tony rolled his eyes.

“We just went over this last week,” he hissed back.

“It’s important material.”

“It’s _boring_.”

“…and the great inventors of the 19th and 20th centuries, who would bring humans into a new world of advanced inventions. Inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, and Eli Whitney, with their inventions…”

“Kill me,” Tony sighed.

“Just because you’re a genius doesn’t mean everyone else already knows this,” Rhodey reminded him. “Now pay attention.”

Tony sighed and leaned his head on his hands. “Don’t even know why we’re taking this class,” he muttered.

“Because you didn’t take it freshman year. Or sophomore year. Because you said, and I quote, ‘US History is the most fucking useless subject I could take’.”

“Yeah, there was probably a reason I said that,” Tony shot back.

Finally the professor closed his notebook and straightened his glasses, a sign that class was ending. Tony moaned in relief.

“Remember, class, there is a quiz next class and a test the class afterwards, so be sure to study chapters 4-7 and read the online notes. Class is dismissed.” Tony shot out of his seat, grabbing his backpack and tugging Rhodey up.

“Let’s go, I'm starved,” he insisted. Rhodey stood up with a groan and grabbed his notebook.

“Alright, I'm coming. Hey, we should go to that new pizza place on the other side of campus.”

They made their way down the stairs and out into the quad. Bruce met them outside, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Tony tugged him along by his shoulder strap. “Let’s go, we’re getting food.”

“I should really be working on my project,” Bruce protested. He was attending Harvard for pre- med and always had some kind of weird project going on. Geneticists. What a bunch of nerds.

“Ask me if I care." Tony cocked an eyebrow because he knew he could get away with it.

Tony had met Rhodey his freshman year at MIT and they had fallen in together like peas in a pod. He and Bruce had already known each other from high school, and together they’d banded together to form their odd little group, picking up a few other stragglers along the years.

Rhodey pulled out his phone. “I’ll see who else wants to join us for lunch,” he said.

“Text Pepper, ask her to bring me coffee,” Tony replied.

“Coffee and pizza? Really, Tony?” Bruce cocked an eyebrow over his glasses and gave him a meaningful look.

“Don’t judge me, I haven’t slept in, like, three days.”

“I know. I'm your roommate.”

Pepper met them at the pizza joint, looking far too professional for a college junior. “What _are_ you wearing?” Tony asked as they passed by, eyeing her pencil skirt and blouse. Pepper held out a large cup of coffee and he made grabby hands.

“Phil and I had a presentation in our Business Economics class this morning,” she explained while Tony sucked down half the cup. “He’s already inside with Jane and Darcy at a table.”

“Please tell me Coulson is wearing that adorable red tie he has with the little white and blue stars on it.”

“He is,” Bruce replied, nodding towards the corner booth. Tony grinned wickedly.

“Oh, that is just perfect.”

They slid in to the booth, nodding to Jane and Darcy, who were currently hunched over a tablet. “Still looking at constellations?” Bruce asked.

“I might have seriously found my major, this is so fascinating,” Jane said excitedly. Darcy rolled her eyes.

“Fiery balls in space are what get her hot and bothered, that’s so good to hear,” she whispered to Tony. He grinned and shrugged.

“Better than Bruce when you get him around chromosomes,” he replied. “He practically pees himself.” Darcy snickered from behind her hand.

Darcy Lewis and Jane Foster had joined their merry gang when they had met Pepper in English class last year. When they had complained to her that they were being kicked out of their apartment complex, Pepper had managed to get the rest of their group to agree for them to live in the three- bedroom house they shared off campus. Now the three girls shared a room, Rhodey and Phil shared another, and Tony and Bruce had the third.

“So what are we ordering?” Tony asked a little louder. He clapped his hands together and grinned. “I’m starving.”

\--------------------

“I’m starving.”

“Clint, you’re always hungry,” Natasha rolled her eyes and threw an apple at him. “Finish studying and then you can eat.”

“But science is _boring_ ,” Clint whined.

“It’s not even real science,” Sam said from the kitchen. “It’s political science, and it’s one beginners class. Try having that as your whole major, and then you can come complain to me.”

“It’s all… governmental. It sucks. How the hell do you live like this, man? Why would you do this to yourself?”

Steve sighed and closed his textbook. As much as he loved his friends, it was impossible to concentrate around them sometimes. Especially when they raided his apartment claiming they needed to study and then talked for two hours straight. “I’m getting hungry, too,” he said, standing up and dropping his book on the kitchen counter. “We should go someplace to eat.”

“Yes!” Clint slammed his book and hopped up, pulling on his boots. “There’s this awesome pizza place, just opened up a few blocks down, we should go there.”

Natasha rolled her eyes and stood. “I guess we can go eat now,” she said reluctantly. Walking over to the second bedroom door, she knocked sharply and called, “Bucky, we’re going to eat. Get your ass out here.”

“Two seconds,” Bucky called. There was a shuffling sound and muffled cursing, and then Bucky threw open the door, dragging on his jeans as he hopped towards the sofa. “Pass me my shoes.”

Sam came to stand by Steve and nudged him with his shoulder. “You nervous for your test tomorrow?” he asked quietly.

“A little, I guess. I didn’t get as much studying in as I wanted. Luckily it’s all Renaissance art and I'm not so bad at that.”

After high school, Steve had joined the Army with the intention of heading out into the battle zones and serving his country. He figured out pretty quickly that he excelled in boot camp—his massive growth spurt that he had hit two months in to the training hadn’t hurt, either. Six inches and a hundred pounds later and Steve was one of the largest soldiers on base. It felt good.

After boot camp, the Army had offered him the opportunity to finish college and get his degree before he was shipped out. He took the opportunity, figuring he wouldn’t be in the Army forever, and chose Boston College because it was close to his next base. Bucky had tagged along because, as he had said, “Boston’s got the best booze and the best ladies.”

Sam Wilson, a cadet from D.C, had been in boot camp with him and Bucky, and had chosen Boston College as well. Together, they’d found an apartment complex and moved in to two suites immediately. Sam had even found himself a roommate—a foreign exchange student named Thor, whose last name was impossible to pronounce.

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff had moved in across from Bucky and Steve a month into school, no explanation given. They were… odd, to say the least. It was clear they had known each other previously, but they never gave any clues about their past and had stayed to themselves for the first semester. It wasn’t until Clint had knocked on their door accidentally while drunk that Steve even saw their faces. Afterwards, they had slowly integrated into their group to make a total of six.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Clint whined. “I texted Thor, he’s meeting us there after his class, now let’s _go_.”

“Jesus, it’s like taking care of a toddler,” Sam muttered.

“Imagine living with him,” Natasha replied.

Thor met them outside the pizza shop, beaming widely. “I am ready to enjoy your cheesy, tomato bread, friends!” he called.

“For God’s sake, Thor. It’s pizza, how have you never heard of pizza,” Clint groaned.

“He’s heard of it, he’s just a little shit and knows it annoys you,” Sam grinned.

“Asshole. Let’s go in, I wanna try and get a seat before the lunch rush comes in.”

Steve followed the group in, inhaling the smell of cheese and dough with a smile. They sat in a booth near the front door, squeezing in so they could all fit. Clint started on some story about his latest bedroom exploit—someone named Barbara, apparently—and Steve was leaning in to listen when a noise from the other side of the restaurant drew his attention.

It was a laugh, confident and loud, and somehow familiar. Steve glanced over and saw another large group at the other corner booth. And right in the middle of the booth, with the same arrogant smile and bright eyes and tangled hair as three years ago, was Tony Stark himself.

Fuck.


	2. Forming Bonds

“Can I just say? That redhead over there? Totally checking you out.” Tony finished his pizza and elbowed Bruce gently.

Bruce flushed a bit and ducked his head. “She’s not even looking over here,” he hissed back.

“Doesn’t mean she’s not checking you out. She’s practically devouring you with her eyes.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“Christ, I have got to get you laid.” Tony leaned back and eyed the rest of the group the redhead was with. “I wish that tall, blonde, and handsome over there with her would check me out,” he said wistfully. “I want to lick that man.”

“Tony!”

“What?” Tony grinned. “You look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t think that man is some kind of Adonis.”

Bruce glanced at the man from the corner of his eye. “He is pretty good looking,” he admitted. “He looks familiar.”

“He looks like something out of my wet dreams.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Don’t be crude, Tony.”

“How long have you known me, Brucie? Now, about Red over there…”

“Forget it, I'm not going over to talk to her.”

“Aw, why not?” Tony stole a slice of pizza from Rhodey’s plate when he wasn’t looking and took a large bite. He grimaced. Pineapple and bacon. That man was an animal with the way he treated cuisine. “It’s college, man, you gotta jump in,” he muffled.

“Can you please swallow your food before you try talking?” Bruce groaned.

Tony grinned. “I’d like to swallow something of Mr. Perfect’s over there.”

“For the love of God.”

“Who the hell took my pizza?” Rhodey demanded.

“Never mind that,” Tony waved off. “Take a look at my future sex toy.”

“Tony, for God’s sakes—hot damn that man is attractive.”

“I know, right?”

Rhodey raised his eyebrows and whistled lowly. “That man looks like apple pie.”

“Imagine what _he’d_ look like with whipped cream on top.”

“Can you two please talk about something else?” Pepper interrupted.

“Have you _seen_ the walking piece of perfection we’re talking about?” Tony demanded.

“I don’t really care—” Rhodey grabbed her cheeks and turned her head. “Hot damn.”

“That’s what I said,” Rhodey replied.

“I would do things to that man. Sinful, unethical, possibly illegal things,” Darcy sighed when she turned to look.

“Hands off, I saw him first.” Tony sipped his milkshake and glared at her. She smirked.

“You can’t stop the girls.” She gestured to her breasts and raised her eyebrows suggestively. “They’re like hound dogs. Once they get a sniff they have a mind of their own.”

“That’s mildly disturbing.”

“You wanted to soak him in whipped cream and lick him. How is that any less creepy?”

\--------------------

“I feel like people are staring at us,” Steve shifted nervously, glancing around the restaurant. He purposely avoided looking at the other corner table.

“It’s that group at the other corner table,” Clint told him. Steve grimaced. Of course it was.

Bucky grabbed two slices of pizza and rolled them together. “Isn’t that Tony Stark?” he mumbled as he chewed.

“You’re disgusting,” Natasha informed him.

“Whatever. Well, Steve? Ain’t that him?”

Steve sighed. “Yeah, that’s him. And Bruce Banner, remember him?”

Natasha leaned forward in the booth a bit. “Which one is Banner?” she asked curtly. Bucky cocked an eyebrow in confusion, stuffing the entire crust in his mouth.

“T’ o’e wi’ t’ cus’ a’d g’ass,” he said.

Natasha slapped the back of his head and waited while he spit out his pizza. “Try again.”

“The one with the curls and glasses,” Bucky repeated. “The one that looks like the adorable kind of nerd that wears Doctor Who shirts and cleans his glasses on his sleeve and gets all hot and bothered over test tubes and beakers.”

Natasha studied the man from the other side of the room for a moment. Then she nodded and stood up briskly. “I’ll be right back.”

The group watched in silence as she walked towards the bathroom, gait never pausing as she slipped a napkin on the corner table by Bruce’s elbow. He watched her leave before grabbing the napkin. Whatever was on it made his eyes go wide. Tony leaned over his shoulder to read and grinned, slapping his shoulder.

When Bruce looked over at their table, Steve sunk down and feigned interest in Sam’s napkin.

“What do you think was on the note?” Sam whispered to him. Steve shrugged.

“Knowing Natasha? It’s either her number or a marriage proposal,” he muttered back. Sam chuckled.

“The one next to him is giving you the glance, too. Must be love in the air.”

“Hey, if Natasha gets married, can I move in with you guys?” Clint asked Steve.

“Not on your life,” Bucky replied quickly.

“Fine. Didn’t wanna move in with you anyways.” Clint turned to Sam hopefully. “How ‘bout you two?”

Sam grinned. “Hell yeah, birdbrain.”

Thor nodded, reaching for his fifth slice of pizza. “It will be wonderful to have new friends living with us,” he agreed.

“For Christ’s sakes,” Bucky cried. “We don’t even know what’s on the note!”

“It’s none of your business what’s on the note,” Natasha spoke up from behind them. The group jumped in unison and turned to stare at her. She gave a small smile. “Now scoot over, Thor’s sitting in my spot.”

\--------------------

“You should try it now and see if it’s really her number,” Tony whispered.

“Are you insane? She’s sitting right over there!” Bruce said. “She’ll think I'm some kind of creep if I do that.”

“First off, jury’s out on the insane thing. Second, you don’t have to call and ask how her day was. Just send a text and ask her out somewhere. Take her to a sappy movie.”

Pepper snorted delicately. “She looks like she’d rather go to some explosive action- laced spy movie than a silly romance.”

“Never underestimate the power of a sappy rom- com,” Tony replied. “And never judge a book by its cover. Or a pretty girl by how overwhelmingly intimidating she seems.”

Bruce swallowed and pulled out his phone anxiously. “You really think I should ask her out now?” he whispered to Tony, too low for anyone else to hear.

“Absolutely,” Tony whispered back. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

He tapped out a message, swallowed again, and hit send. They both leaned over the table, staring intently at the back of her head until she reached in her pocket and took out her phone. She read the message, smiled, and typed a reply before pocketing the phone again.

Bruce’s phone buzzed and he grabbed at it. “It says ‘8 pm, I pick the movie’. Does that mean…?”

“Shit, it means you’re in!” Tony cheered. Bruce let Coulson and Rhodey slap on the shoulder and smiled bashfully, peeking up at the girl from under his eyelashes.

“I don’t even know her name,” he murmured.

“Who gives a shit about names? She’s gorgeous and she’s into you.”

\--------------------

“What are you grinning about all creepy- like over there?” Bucky glared. They were lounging back at his and Steve’s place and Natasha had been smiling at her phone for well over an hour, typing away furiously and refusing to let it out of her sight.

“That’s none of your business,” she replied coolly, tapping at the screen again. The phone pinged a second later and she bit her lower lip to keep her grin from growing.

“This is disgusting,” Clint whispered to Steve. “She’s like an eighth grader that just got asked to the winter dance.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Steve replied.

“You are such a sap.”

“Will you all shut up and watch the game?” Sam demanded. “The Patriots are down by 6 points already.”

“It’s only the first quarter!”

“No one said my team was a good one. Now shut it and toss me a beer.”

Clint grinned and hurled a beer can at his head. “Of course, darling.”

Sam caught it and popped the top. “Thanks, dollface.”

Steve buried his head in his sketchbook to hide his blush at the pet names, so like the ones Tony had murmured to him in bed. This was ridiculous. It was like he was a freshman all over again, sighing and doodling Tony’s face in his notebook like some love struck fool.

“Steve? What are you drawing?”

Steve shuffled the notepad away from Thor quickly. “It’s, uh, personal,” he stammered. Thor shrugged and resumed staring at the TV intently. He’d become obsessed with American football since coming over from… wherever it was he was from. He followed all the games and had some form of gear from every team in the league.

Natasha paused from her constant texting to give Steve’s notebook a curious glance. When he smiled guiltily, she raised an eyebrow in silent question. _Everything alright?_

Steve shrugged and nodded. He was a big boy. He could work through this… lust, crush, whatever it was, on his own.

Natasha nodded and looked down at her phone again. She smiled almost timidly at whatever was on the screen and Steve couldn’t help but feel happy for her.

\--------------------

“Wha’ th’ ‘ell a’e you doin’?” Tony leaned against the door frame, brushing his teeth. Bruce was curled on his bed, texting furiously. After a minute he looked up, brow furrowed in confusion.

“You say something?”

Tony spat and rinsed his mouth out. “I asked if you were rediscovering the goddamn theory of relativity on that thing,” he said. “You’ve been glued to that phone for, like, 6 hours.”

Bruce glanced at the clock. “Has it really been that long?” he asked.

“Kind of, yeah.” Tony’s eyes lit up in realization and he bounced on Bruce’s bed to sit cross-legged. “Are you still texting that redhead chick from the pizza joint?”

“She’s not a ‘chick’,” Bruce reprimanded. “She has a name.”

“Has she even told you it yet?”

“As a matter of fact, she has. It’s Natasha. She told me to call her Nat.”

“I’m gonna swoon. My heart is racing. This is some fairytale shit right here, Brucie.”

“Shut up.” Bruce swatted him with a pillow and curled back against the headboard, glancing at the phone. “She’s something else, Tony. She likes romance flicks _and_ action movies, and she reads Shakespeare and Vonnegut but also those young adult dystopian novels, and she watches Harry Potter at least once a month, and… and she doesn’t mind if I talk about science. She actually asks questions,” Bruce finished with a small blush.

Tony knew she was a good one. Bruce had always found it hard to talk to anyone, especially since his fallback in conversation was usually something pertaining to genetics and theories. Most people lost interest within five minutes of talking to him. The few that stayed around were always keepers. The ones that actually listened and were genuinely interested were… well, Tony, up until now.

Tony punched Bruce’s arm lightly. “You devil,” he joked.

Bruce grinned and leaned back against a pillow. “I was wondering, though, didn’t a couple of the guys with her at the pizza place look familiar? Like maybe we went to high school with them or something?”

Tony shrugged. “Hell if I know. High school’s sort of a blur for me.”

“Tony, it was three years ago.”

“Don’t you judge me, lover boy. Anyway, where are you taking your sweetheart tomorrow?”

Bruce shrugged. “We agreed she picks the movie, I pick the dinner. She decided on that new movie, the one with the trailer on TV of those people kissing in the rain. But I don’t know where to take her.”

Tony pulled out his phone and typed in a few commands. “Let’s see… how about that sushi place on third?”

“Works for me. I should ask Nat if she likes sushi.”

Tony grinned. “God, you’re so domestic already. This is hilarious.”

“You know, you should find someone, too,” Bruce told him. “All you ever do is one night stands and brief flings. If you found someone and had a real relationship it’d be good for you, I know it.”

Tony fell back and stared at the ceiling, sighing dramatically. “You know I can’t do that. I don’t want a relationship with anyone but…”

“I know, I know.” Bruce lay back on the bed next to Tony, crossing his ankles. “That guy you slept with for one night while drunk at a party at graduation.”

“It’s like I’d be cheating on him,” Tony moaned, flopping an arm over his eyes. “You don’t want me to cheat on my soulmate, do you?”

“You don’t even know his name,” Bruce protested.

Tony sat up on his elbows and poked Bruce’s side. “Names are meaningless when you’re connected on a spiritual level.”

“You were stone- cold drunk. You barely even remember what he looked like. All you ever say when anyone asks is that his eyes were ‘like starlight’ and his hair—”

“Was strung from golden silk,” Tony finished dreamily.

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think the odds of finding him are just a little… improbable?”

“But Brucie!” Tony rolled on his side and batted his eyelashes. “Our souls are _connected_.”

“You are so emotionally stunted.”

“You love me.”

\--------------------

“Maybe you should invite him over sometime,” Steve panted as he and Natasha rounded a corner at full speed.

“We’ve only been dating a few weeks,” she replied. They paused at a red light and she stretched out her back.

“It’s been close to a month. And it might get Clint off your back for a while.” The light turned green and they were off again, racing towards Boyden Park.

“Clint never gets off my back.”

Steve grinned and nudged her a bit. “You really like this guy, don’t you?”

Natasha shrugged and stayed silent, but Steve saw the small smile that crossed her lips. “Enough about me,” she said instead. “Let’s talk about you. Something’s been up with you for the last couple of weeks.”

Steve glanced out across the park towards the rising sun. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Natasha snorted. “You know exactly what I'm talking about. The others haven’t noticed because they’re too busy wrapping themselves up in my love life, but I have. You’re quieter than usual and you’re drawing more than you ever did. So spill. What’s going on?”

“I…  it’s nothing, really.”

“Don’t you pull that bullshit with me,” Natasha warned.

Steve remained silent for as long as possible, determined to keep his dark secret to himself. Unfortunately, Natasha was terrifying when she was staring him down.

“Have you met Bruce’s other friends?” he asked finally.

Natasha nodded. “They live in a house they found between Harvard and MIT. I’ve been a couple of times.”

“You met Tony then?”

“Yep.” Natasha wrinkled her nose a bit. “He’s a narcissistic, egotistical asshole.”

“Good to know he hasn’t changed.”

Natasha glanced over at him. “Do you know him?”

Steve shrugged, feeling his heart race even more. “Bruce and Tony went to our high school. Tony… he was in my science class.”

“Did you have a crush on him?” she asked bluntly.

“Kind of?” Steve felt horrible all of a sudden. He paused under a tree and stretched his arms above his head to catch his breath. “It was… complicated.”

Natasha cracked her neck and continued to stare at him intently, clearly waiting for more of an answer. Steve sighed. “I was sort of a little in love with him,” he mumbled quietly.

“And now you’re worried you might be again?” she asked.

“Or that it never went away.” Steve pushed off the tree and followed Natasha down the path. They turned at the end of the park and made their way back towards the apartments.

“You do know that if I invite Bruce to meet the others, all his friends are going to want to come meet you, right?” Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Including Tony.”

Steve swallowed and scratched the back of his head. “I’m sort of hoping he doesn’t recognize me,” he replied honestly. “He was always so smart in high school, he usually didn’t even bother to show up to school. Plus he drank a lot back then.”

“I don’t think that’s changed. Did you sleep with him?” Steve stumbled and blinked at Natasha’s blunt question.

“Umm…”

She smirked. “I’m taking that as a yes. I'm also assuming it was pretty fantastic sex.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’ve heard stories about Tony Stark. Lots and lots of stories,” she emphasized.

Great. That made Steve feel even worse about the whole thing.

“Maybe I can just… shut myself up in my room until I graduate,” he said.

“I don’t think so. If I have to deal with Clint’s incessant questions for Bruce, so do you.”

“Maybe I can avoid him?”

“It’s Tony Stark.” Natasha glanced over at him meaningfully. “That man radiates self- confidence and arrogance. There is no possible way you can avoid or ignore him.”

Steve groaned. “Maybe I should just transfer.”

\--------------------

“This explanation is based on the misconception that I have already mentioned, that living creatures evolve to do things ‘for the good of the species’ or ‘for the good of the group’. It is easy to see how this idea got its start in biology. Much of an animal’s life is devoted to reproduction, and most of the acts of altruistic self- sacrifice that are observed in nature are performed…”

“Did you go to high school with a Steve Rogers?”

Bruce glanced down from the book he was reading to Natasha, who was lying with her head in his lap. She opened her eyes and waited patiently.

“How’d you know?” he asked. She smiled.

“He goes to Boston College. We live right next door to him.”

“Really? Is… wait, was he the guy that was sitting with you in the pizza joint when we met? The blonde one?”

“The blonde one,” she confirmed. “Not Clint, the one that looks like the epitome of the American dream.”

Bruce whistled. “That was Steve? He looked… larger.”

Natasha cocked an eyebrow.

“Like physically,” he corrected. “In high school he was this short, skinny kid that always got picked on. We would have had that in common but I managed to get in with Tony and most people left me alone, but Steve… he always fought back, so more people went after him.”

“He hit a growth spurt, after high school,” Natasha told him. “After he joined the Army and went to boot camp, apparently.”

“He joined the Army? I’m surprised they even let him in, with all the medical conditions he had.”

Natasha rolled on to her side and looked up at him. “Which ones?”

Bruce shrugged. “Asthma was his big one. I think he was colorblind, too. There were rumors about a heart condition, a bone disease, all sorts of stuff. It’s really fascinating, actually, because while some of them are genetic, others seem to come from a mutation in his chromosomes due to…”

“Rambling, Bruce.”

He blushed and scratched his cheek. “Sorry, I forget.” She smiled up at him and he continued, “I wonder if he just outgrew them or learned to overcome them. Some people can get over asthma, but others just learn to live life while dealing with it.”

“I’ve never seen him use an inhaler,” Natasha replied. “Either way, did you ever see him interact with Tony?”

Bruce shrugged. “Not really. Tony didn’t make a lot of friends. He was popular, but only because he was so outgoing. I don’t ever remember them talking, but I know that Tony had a crush on him back then.”

“Really?” Natasha sat up on her elbows and smirked.

“Big time. I think it’s because he was so snarky. He never let anyone have the last word, especially bullies.”

“Steve apparently had a crush on Tony, too.”

Bruce grinned. “You thinking what I'm thinking?”

Natasha smiled slyly and lay back down on Bruce’s lap. “Of course I am. That’s why we get along so well. You can keep reading, if you want. But only if you pet my hair.”

Bruce obliged her and tangled his fingers in her hair. He picked up his book and continued, “Are performed by parents toward their young. ‘Perpetuation of the species’ is a common euphemism for reproduction…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while, but next chapter's gonna be good, I promise. Next chapter proves that nothing says college like getting drunk and playing "Never Have I Ever".
> 
> The book Bruce is reading at the end is "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins.


	3. Never Have I Ever

“So, who’s cute in lovely Nattie’s gang?” Tony sprawled across the couch and set his feet in Bruce’s lap. Bruce just lifted his book and settled it on top of Tony’s legs.

“All of them, really. Clint looks like a rugged movie star, Thor is like some Norse god, Sam's got a very nice facial structure, and Bucky looks like one of those mountain men with the long hair and serious abs. Oh, and Steve is pretty cute,” he replied.

“Please tell me Steve is the name of Mr. Apple Pie and Sunshine.”

“Steve is the name of Mr. Apple Pie and Sunshine.”

Tony leaned back against the armrest and grinned. “Steeeeeve,” he drawled out. “I like it. It’s sort of old- fashioned, vintage classy. It sounds all- American. I bet he’s a virgin.”

“Dibs on popping his cherry,” Darcy called from the kitchen.

“Hands off, bitch, I called dibs first!”

“You called dibs on the last hot person we saw!”

“And you’re lucky I did, because Ty was a fucking mess.”

Darcy threw a yogurt cup at him. “So I get to call dibs on this one.”

Tony caught the cup easily and tore the lid off. “Abide by the dibs rules,” he said. “And throw me a spoon.”

Darcy threw him a fork. Tony glared at her over Bruce’s head.

“Still calling dibs,” he mumbled.

Rhodey snorted from his armchair. “Maybe before you two call dibs, you should check and see what he’s even into. For all you know he’s totally straight.”

“Please, I can smell the bi on that man,” Tony protested, mouth full of yogurt.

“You can’t make apple pie without the cinnamon _and_ sugar,” Darcy added. She raised her eyebrows suggestively. Rhodey rolled his eyes.

“I think we should invite Natasha’s friends over,” Jane said. “Get to know them. Maybe we can all be friends.”

“At the very least we can get drunk and play Cards Against Humanity,” Darcy exclaimed.

“Or ‘Never Have I Ever’,” Bruce suggested.

“Oh, man, I am so good at that game!”

“That game wouldn’t be fair,” Coulson spoke up. “Tony wins ever time.”

“It’s not winning if you get out first,” Rhodey told him.

Coulson gave him a perfectly deadpan face. “It is the way Tony plays it.”

“I am a man- whore and I am proud,” Tony grinned.

Darcy jumped on the couch next to him, laying her head by his on the armrest and tangling their feet together on Bruce’s lap. “Can we make a club? A club of proud whores?”

“I’d be insulted if we didn’t,” Tony told her.

“Yay!” Darcy clapped and poked Bruce’s side with her toe. “Call Natasha and tell her we’re having a shin- dig, lover boy. And tell her that their man- whores and whores are invited into our club.”

“Clint,” Bruce said. “Clint is about it for that group. And he’ll be thrilled.”

“I like him already. He and I should have sex.”

“He’s gay.”

“I’ve changed girls’ orientations, I can damn sure try to change his.”

Tony gave her an impressed glance. “Can you really change girls’ orientations?”

“Can and have,” she replied.

“Bruce, can you please call your girlfriend just so we can end this conversation?” Coulson interrupted.

\--------------------

“Bruce and I think you guys should bond with his friends,” Natasha announced.

“How did you get into our apartment?” Bucky asked.

“Shut up and focus. We’re going over on Saturday and getting drunk and doing things.”

“Orgy things?” Clint perked up from his place on the kitchen table.

Natasha slapped the back of his head. “Normal things. Although you’re invited to join their whore club.”

Clint pumped his fist. “I’m so fucking in.”

“Whore club?” Bucky whispered to Steve. He shrugged.

“At least it’s something for Clint to get excited about,” he replied.

In truth, Steve was terrified. The thought of being in the same room as Tony, being that close to what was undoubtedly the greatest sex of his life to date, made Steve’s fingers itch to touch Tony again. Steve still wanted him, and it was tearing him up.

_So go seduce him and sleep with him again_ , a little voice whispered in his head. Steve shook that away quickly. The last thing he needed was something that complicated. Everyone knew that Tony Stark didn’t do relationships, and Steve wasn’t sure he could handle having his heart broken like that.

Natasha seemed to notice Steve’s distress. She grabbed his hand, pulled him on the sofa with her, and curled her feet into his side. Steve instantly felt a little better.

“You can ignore him all night,” she murmured. “Besides, there’s going to be alcohol and I’ll make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

“You’re a true friend,” he told her honestly. She snorted. “You really like this guy, don’t you?” he continued.

Natasha watched him warily. “What makes you say that?”

Steve shrugged. “You’ve never wanted us to meet a guy’s friends. You’ve never wanted us to meet a guy.”

They’d met Bruce (finally) about two weeks ago. He was exactly how Steve remembered him—quiet, easygoing, and filled with a hidden, overwhelming sense of sarcasm. Clint had liked him almost immediately. The others had followed soon after.

Natasha twirled her hair in her fingers. “Maybe I do like this one,” she said finally. A small smile graced her lips. “Maybe I really do.”

Steve patted her knee. “Then I’ll suffer through it. For you.”

“You’ll have fun, Steve. I promise.”

\--------------------

It turned out, Steve did have fun. Bruce’s friends were loud, boisterous, and full of life from the very start. A small, curvy girl with brown hair and glasses had greeted them at the door Saturday night and immediately kissed Clint straight on the mouth.

“Welcome to the whore club,” she said solemnly. Clint grinned.

“These are my people,” he told Natasha.

Natasha ignored him and stepped around the girl to greet Bruce. She kissed him on the cheek and leaned up on her toes to whisper something in his ear quickly. Bruce nodded and pecked a kiss on her lips. Steve smiled despite the fact that his heart was thudding madly. He was in the _same house_ as Tony. Somewhere, in this small, crumbling house, Tony had a _bed._ He had a _room_ here.

Tony had been _naked_ in this house.

Steve really was pathetic.

The brunette held out her hand and quirked her lips into a smile. “I’m Darcy,” she told Steve.

“Steve,” he told her. He shook her hand and she gaped.

“Ohmygod, the muscles are _real_ ,” she said wonderingly. She carefully poked his upper arm and let out a quiet squeal.

“I told you the muscles make people all… quivery,” Clint said.

Tony came sliding down the stairs before Steve had the chance to retaliate. “I heard there were people here please tell me they brought alcohol,” he said in a rush.

“I brought bad tequila and a lime,” Clint called.

“You’re my new best friend.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “I should probably be offended by that.”

“Brucie, you’ll always have a place in my heart,” Tony told him. He dragged Clint in by his collar. “But this man has a special place in my liver.”

“You don’t mess with the man’s liver,” another voice called from the kitchen. A man appeared in the doorway, tall and stiff- jawed. He was in the remains of a business suit, though he’d lost the jacket and had the sleeve rolled up and the tie loosened. Steve caught Clint staring at him and grimaced. If anyone else in this group hooked up he might never get out of seeing Tony again.

Bruce chose to ignore Tony’s meaningful look and gestured that the rest of them sit in the living room. Darcy dragged Steve onto the couch so that she was snugly in the middle of him and another girl with dirty blonde hair and a pretty smile. “This is Jane,” Darcy introduced. “And the stick in the mud by the door is Phil Coulson, Denzel Washington wanna- be is Rhodey, ginger is Pepper, and short greasy and alcoholic is Tony.”

“What do you mean, short?” Tony demanded.

“All the adjectives she used and you’re offended by her statement about your height?” Phil asked.

“I know my priorities are out of order,” Tony replied, “but the height thing stings most of all. Especially coming from someone who barely hits five feet.”

“I am well past five feet, thank you,” Darcy said.

“Darcy, you’re only five foot one,” Jane whispered to her.

“Shut it, you adorable nerd. You’re in the same boat as I am.”

Natasha pulled Bruce into the armchair with her, kicking up her feet and immediately making herself at home. “Sam and Thor will be along later,” she told the others. “But that’s Steve, Clint, and Bucky’s staring at the painting by the door.”

“What the hell does it mean?” Steve heard Bucky call.

“I bought it while I was drunk,” Tony called back.

“I feel like that’s an excuse for a lot of things.”

“You’d be right.”

Clint thumped the tequila bottle on the table and folded himself onto the floor. “We gonna keep talking or are we gonna drink shitty booze and make lifelong drunken bonds?”

“I like the way this man thinks.” Tony slid past the couch and winked at Steve over his shoulder. “’Scuse me, sweetheart.”

Steve’s heart stopped for a few beats before taking off wildly. Did Tony recognize him? Oh god, if Tony knew who he was and it somehow got out, Steve was pretty sure he’d die.

_I have to pretend like I just don’t know him,_ he decided resolutely. Maybe Tony wouldn’t say anything if Steve didn’t. Besides, it was a drunken one- night stand. Tony’d had plenty of those before, and most times it was his partner who spilled about the sex. Tony had always been discreet.

Mind made up, he accepted the shot glass Darcy handed him and downed the tequila in one quick swallow. He could do this.

They were three shots in by the time Thor and Sam showed up. Tony and Clint were sitting by each other, elbows on the table, staring at the cheesy movie that Darcy had put on. Steve hadn’t seen it before, but it involved some kind of time travel closet thing and Jennifer Aniston, so it wasn’t so bad. Natasha insisted the guy in it looked like Bruce. Bruce was still blushing a bit at that. Coulson had lost his tie completely and had several of his top buttons undone, but Pepper still looked entirely put together, despite the drunken flush on her cheeks.

“Aw, you guys started without us,” Sam grumbled. He grabbed two cups and poured a healthy measure for Thor and himself. “Alright, big guy, let’s catch up.”

They were five shots in when Darcy suggested Never Have I Ever.

“It’s easy,” she explained when Steve had shot her a confused glance. “We each hold up ten fingers, and then someone says something they’ve never done before, and if you’ve done it you have to put a finger down. Last one to reach zero wins.”

“Or first one, if you play it with my perspective,” Tony cut in.

“Literally no one else plays it your way, Tony,” Coulson said. Steve had tried calling him ‘Phil’, but Darcy had just laughed and Coulson had shaken his head. “Everyone calls me Coulson,” he’d told Steve.

“I’ll play it that way with you,” Steve heard Clint whisper to Tony. Tony grinned and knocked shoulders with him.

“I like you more and more, birdbrain.”

Steve noticed Tony had a tendency to give people nicknames without thinking about it. He called Rhodey ‘pumpkin’ and ‘Rhodey bear’ (and Steve was resolutely not jealous about that), and Pepper ‘Pepper pot’ and just made others up as he went. He even called Natasha ‘Red’. And she _let_ him.

“Okay, I go first!” Darcy called. She slipped her feet behind Thor’s back, who had slumped on the floor by the couch about ten minutes ago. “Fingers up. And… never have I ever… had a threesome.”

Tony and Clint immediately put one finger down.

“I’m not even surprised,” Bruce muttered.

“It usually ends up sexual,” Darcy whispered to Steve. “So I usually just start it off that way to make it easier for everyone.” She nudged Jane. “Your turn.”

“Okay.” Jane bit her bottom lip. “Never have I ever… umm… gotten an A on a history test?”

“You’re no fun,” Tony groaned. Still, Rhodey and Thor put a finger down.

It went on like that for a while. Some were downright filthy (Steve was pretty sure that Tony and Clint were competing with each other some how) and others were so innocent even Steve could get a finger down every now and then.

“Alright, never have I ever given a blowjob,” Bucky announced. Steve breathed a sigh of relief that everything sexual up to this point didn’t relate to him. Bucky would kill him if he found out that Steve had slept with a guy and didn’t tell him. Luckily, the only reason he was getting any fingers down right now was because of his relationship with Peggy Carter their first year of college.

“You’re cheating,” Clint accused Bucky. He had two fingers left up at this point. Tony had him beat with only one left.

“It’s not my fault you’re easier than a Betty Crocker instant cake,” Bucky retorted.

“How do you even know that?”

“I bake damn good cakes.”

“He does make good cakes,” Sam added helpfully.

“How come you’ve never made me a cake?” Clint asked. He looked almost hurt.

“You don’t deserve my cakes.” Bucky shook his head at Clint’s attempt at a puppy look. “I’ll make you a deal: find a relationship and stay in it for more than a month. _Then_ I’ll make you a cake.”

“Shake on it,” Clint demanded. Bucky obliged and Clint’s gaze discreetly slid over to Coulson’s chair.

“Shut up, it’s my turn,” Pepper cut in. “And I say, never have I ever had a one- night stand.”

Damn it.

Steve lowered a finger carefully, hoping no one noticed. Unfortunately, Bucky was sitting directly across from him.

“Holy shit, Steve, how have _you_ had a one- night stand?”

Steve sighed. Bucky could never keep his mouth shut. “I… I just have,” he said.

“I want so many details,” Clint grinned. Steve resisted the urge to kick him.

“It was a long time ago,” he replied.

“Like, high school long time? ‘Cause I totally thought you were a virgin in high school,” Bucky said.

It was a _really_ good thing Steve didn’t have anything to throw at him.

“It was… near the end.”

“Like graduation?” Bucky pressed.

“Around that time, yeah.”

“Was it good?” Clint asked.

Steve bit his lower lip. “Kind of.”

“How was it only ‘kind of’ good? If it was your first time it was either the best night of your life or the worst.”

“I’ve had better,” Steve lied.

“Boy or girl?” Darcy asked.

“Boy.”

“What’d he look like? Dark hair, blonde hair, ginger?”

Thankfully, he still had Natasha. Beautiful, beautiful Natasha, who had remained silently curled into Bruce’s side. “Just keep going with the game,” she interrupted. “Tony just lost anyways.”

“I won, you mean,” Tony smirked.

“You definitely lost,” Darcy told him.

“Still had more sex than you.”

“Our sex lives are not a competition, Tony. And if they were, I definitely would have won just from eleventh grade alone.”

In the end, Thor won with three fingers to spare. Steve was pretty sure it was partly because he didn’t know half the things described in the game, but still. At least this way no one could make any ‘virgin jokes’ at his expense tonight.

“Who’s up for Cards Against Humanity?” Darcy asked after the seventh shot.

“I am all over that,” Rhodey said. “Coulson wins every time and I’m determined to beat him just once.”

“You can’t win,” Pepper shook her head. “Coulson practically invented this game.”

Coulson just shrugged and took another sip of his beer.

\--------------------

Tony was eight shots in before it hit him like a wall of bricks.

They were elbow deep in a Cards Against Humanity game and Coulson was wiping the floor with their asses. Tony would’ve cared more, but he was too focused on the way that Steve’s cheeks flushed a certain way if he got a particularly dirty card, or how he scratched his left ear when he had a really bad hand, and oh my god Tony wanted to sleep with him so badly…

And then it hit. Wavy blond hair, clear blue eyes, the slightest hint of a dimple. Take a hundred pounds and six inches off this guy and it was fucking _Steve Rogers_. AKA, Steve Rogers, the kid that held the unwavering title of ‘Tony’s first crush’.

Steve had been small in high school, and he’d worn these dorky black frame glasses and skinny jeans and sometimes if it was cold out he’d put on old man sweaters and complain about he snow. And he always fought back against the bullies, even when they outnumbered him and were kicking him around like nobody’s business. Tony had been a little bit in love.

He’d only managed to work up the courage to talk to Steve on graduation night, and it had only been for a little bit. After that, Steve must have walked away or something because his next memory of that night was the best sex he’d ever had and Steve was nowhere to be seen.

What a shame.

Still, seeing his first crush all tall and muscle-y was doing serious things to Tony’s libido. No wonder he’d been so sexually attracted to Steve before.

Now, Tony was more than a little drunk and fully determined. He _would_ hit that, and hit it thoroughly. He made a mental pact with himself not to rest until Steve Rogers writhing in bed—and preferably, in Tony.

Unfortunately, Steve still looked more innocent than Tony’s grandmother. He’d proven he wasn’t all sweet and virtuous when they’d been playing Never Have I Ever, but still. The man hadn’t even put a finger down at ‘given a blowjob’.

Who the fuck hasn’t given a blowjob once in their life?

_First time for everything_ , Tony reminded himself. _And by God, I am going to be Steve Rogers’ first blowjob recipient if it kills me._

“Tony, pay attention!” Pepper cut through his daydream of Steve’s lips wrapped around his cock with a sharp smack to his shoulder. “It’s your turn.”

“Ouch, you’re so pushy, Pep,” he protested.

“Sam’s one away from tying with Coulson,” Pepper replied. “The heat is on, Stark. Choose wisely.”

By the end of the game—which Coulson won—Tony had made a mental plan, complete with a full check- list and possible scenarios, on how to seduce Steve Rogers.

“How the fuck does Coulson keep winning this game?” Rhodey complained.

“He’s half sociopath,” Darcy insisted. “It’s the only way.”

Coulson arched one eyebrow. “Half?”

By 2 am, everyone was well and truly wasted. Tony was half- laying on Clint’s lap, who was well on his way to becoming his favorite new drinking buddy. Seriously, the guy could almost drink _Tony_ under the table. And Tony had been drinking steadily since age fourteen.

“You guys should totally spend the night here,” Darcy slurred. She seemed to be most affected by the booze. Jane was already passed out on her side of the couch, hair falling over her eyes and feet tucked behind Thor’s back, who was watching her intently with a sparkle in his eyes.

“We’d love to, but Clint’s got an 8 am that he’s not missing,” Natasha replied. She had kicked off her shoes an hour ago and was now firmly curled into Bruce’s side, who looked almost normal compared to the others. Tony was convinced he’d been throwing some shots into the houseplant next to him.

“But Nat…” Clint whined. He slid his head onto Tony’s shoulder and groaned. Tony made a quick whipping noise under his breath and Clint elbowed him sharply in his side.

After that, Tony must have dozed off for a few minutes. When he came to, Natasha and her friends were gone.

“Are we all best friends now?” Darcy asked, slumped in Jane's lap. Jane was still passed out, but at least someone had tied her hair back.

“I can tell you one thing, Clint is definitely coming over again for a drinking contest,” Tony replied.

“Are you two gonna become those stereotypical bros that only bond over how much alcohol they can consume?” Bruce asked.

“Totally.”

“I’m moving out if that happens,” Coulson replied.

“You love me, Coulson,” Tony insisted.

“The same way Darcy loves Calculus, Stark.”

Darcy leaned over Tony’s shoulder. “I don’t.”

He glared back at her. “Thanks, I got that.”

“Just trying to help, darling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the game Never Have I Ever. For those of you who don't know it, it really is that simple. Ten fingers up, and then you go around and say something you've never done. If someone has done that, they put a finger down, and the last one with fingers up wins. It usually ends up sexual.
> 
> Also, if you've never played Cards Against Humanity, you've never lived.


	4. Fuck Buddies (again)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (sex)

Never let it be said that Steve did anything halfway.

 

The friendship between the two groups started out normal enough. It had evolved from weekly drunken board games to the occasional movie night to “hey, there’s a party at this fraternity tonight and you should all come” within a matter of two weeks. They had even matured to the point of what Darcy affectionately called ‘inter-friendship-friendships’. Natasha and Darcy had hit it off surprisingly well and could often be found painting each other’s nails and gossiping about celebrity news. Coulson and Sam bonded over political debates and news reports on world topics. And Tony and Clint were fast becoming the menace duo.

As for Steve, he’d found a (admittedly unlikely) friend in Pepper. She was smart, mature, and interesting to talk to. And she never took shit from anyone.

“If you even think of hitting me with the marshmallow shooter, I will take the heel off my shoe and shove it up your ass,” she informed Tony coolly. She and Steve were curled on the couch, running through her business presentation in hushed tones an hour before her class.

“But _Pepperrrrrr_ ,” Tony whined.

Pepper rolled her eyes and kicked at the pointy set of shoes resting by her feet. Tony grimaced and scampered off, ducking behind the kitchen door to catch someone else by surprise.

“It’s like taking care of a toddler,” Pepper muttered.

“I’ll bet,” Steve said.

All in all, the group had really bonded.

And then Steve had to go and fuck it all up.

It had been at some party hosted by some fraternity that Sam knew. Everyone had decided to go, and Thor had volunteered as designated driver (even though sometimes he forgot where he was and drove on the other side of the road). Just to be safe, Steve had decided not to drink too much in case they needed a back- up driver.

But then Tony had come up to him, eyes wide and mouth stretched in a grin, and handed him a drink. And then another. And Steve never really said no, even though he knew he probably should.

“We should dance,” Tony said when a particularly loud song came on.

Steve glanced around and saw that other partygoers were forming a mob in the living room, dancing and swaying to the beat, so he nodded and let Tony drag him to the center of the living room.

If you asked Steve what happened next, he’d never be able to explain it. One minute he and Tony were dancing innocently enough. The next minute, they were upstairs in someone’s bedroom making out against the wall.

Tony’s lips were just as warm and dry as Steve remembered them. He leaned deeper into the kiss and wrapped an arm around Tony’s waist to drag the other man in a little closer. When Tony let out an appreciative moan, Steve was pretty sure he’d died and gone to heaven.

Tony pulled away just long enough to rip Steve’s shirt over his head. He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “I must have done something very, very good,” he mumbled, almost to himself. Then his lips were back on Steve’s and they were at it again.

This time, Steve forced himself to participate more. He let his hands wander across Tony’s back, down his sides, underneath his shirt. Tony pulled away again and let Steve slip his shirt off with careful, steady hands.

“We should go to the bed,” Steve heard himself say.

“Whatever you want, gorgeous,” Tony murmured against his lips. Steve just about lost it right then and there.

They stumbled towards the bed and Tony fell back against the sheets, dragging Steve down with him. Some ironic part of Steve’s brain reminded him that this was now the second time he and Tony were having sex in a stranger’s bed while drunk at a party. He almost laughed out loud, but then Tony was unbuckling his belt and sliding it out with a soft _snap_ of the leather and Steve’s thoughts all dissipated at once.

“You wanna top or should I?” Tony asked, running his hands underneath the hem of Steve’s pants to cup his ass.

Maybe it was the alcohol or the fact that it had been four goddamn years of waiting for this moment again, but whatever it was made Steve reckless. “I will,” he replied, mouthing at Tony’s neck. Tony moaned and unzipped Steve’s pants quickly.

“Won’t hear me arguing, baby.”

Those pet names were probably going to be the death of Steve.

He grabbed Tony’s hands and pulled them away gently, kissing down his neck to the crook of his shoulder.

“Please tell this is going where I think it is because I am _all_ about that,” Tony breathed.

“You know you talk too much,” Steve replied. He let his mouth trail down Tony’s chest, counting ribs with his tongue.

“Admit you love it, angel.”

Steve really couldn’t argue there, so he kept silent and unbuttoned Tony’s jeans, shoving them and his boxers down until Tony was naked.

“Why am I the only one that’s naked here, sweetheart?” he heard Tony grumble.

“I wanted time to do this.” And before he could psych himself out, Steve leaned down and swiped his tongue up Tony’s cock.

The result was magical. Tony shuddered and gripped the sheets in his fist, arching off the bed to follow Steve’s tongue. More than that, he tasted… _sweet._ Not like honey, or anything corny- sounding, but musky and distinct and Steve could taste him all day.

_I am so fucked,_ he thought absently. Unfortunately, he wasn’t willing to process what he was doing in his drunken state, so he leaned down and went at it again, licking and nipping gently until Tony was writhing underneath him. He closed his mouth around the head of Tony’s cock, sucking lightly, and Tony full- on _shouted_.

Steve took that as his cue.

He leaned back up and kissed Tony again, and Tony was fisting his hair and arching against him, gasping and licking into Steve’s mouth.

“Back pocket. Jeans. Now,” he panted.

Steve really didn’t want to move, but the idea of being that close to Tony— _inside_ Tony—was practically mind- blowing. He rummaged behind him for Tony’s pants, lips still firmly on the other man’s neck. _Where the fuck are they?_

Tony grabbed Steve’s arms for leverage and flipped them so he was on top. “Allow me,” he breathed.

“Thought I was supposed to be on top,” Steve replied. He mouthed at Tony’s collarbone, skimming his fingers lightly over Tony’s back.

“Ever hear of a power bottom, babydoll?”

Steve felt Tony slap a condom wrapper in his palm. “One for you.” He pulled the lube packet out and tossed the pants aside again. “And one for me.”

Steve grabbed the packet from Tony's hand and let his hand trail down his ass. “Allow me,” he grinned. He ripped the packet open and spread some of the lube on his fingers, rubbing them together to warm them up some.

Tony stretched out, clutching the headboard with both hands above Steve's head. “You’re a jerk. Hurry up and finger me.”

Steve shivered at Tony’s blunt wording and reached down. “Let me know if it’s too much.”

“Honey, if it’s too much then you’re doing it perfectly.” Tony leaned down and kissed him again, and Steve pushed his first finger in.

Tony was insistent, pushing back against him and setting a fast paced rhythm. He nipped Steve’s lower lip and moaned, “More, for God’s sake.”

Steve opened him up, careful not to take it too fast. But when Tony grabbed at Steve’s wrist and groaned loudly, Steve basically snapped. He pulled out and managed to fumble out of his jeans (why the hell was he still wearing those?). Tony glanced down when Steve was finally naked and grinned. “And it’s not even Christmas,” he murmured, reaching down to grasp Steve lightly. He tore the condom wrapper open, fumbling with the rubber until he managed to slip it onto Steve’s cock with a few quick strokes.

“Christ,” Steve sighed. He let Tony pull him closer gently and lined them up. “Ready?”

“Born ready, darling.”

With one small thrust, Steve pushed in—and it felt fucking _amazing._

Tony was tight and hot and twisting underneath him, surging back against Steve’s cock in an attempt to force him further in.

“Come on, gumdrop,” he insisted.

Steve moaned against Tony’s neck, desperately imagining the latest Yankees game and his history teacher’s unibrow and whatever else he could think of to keep him from coming on the spot.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Tony grin. “Who knew it was the cheesy nicknames that got you off. Now come on and fuck me, buttercup.”

Steve pushed into him again, harder than before. Thrusting his hips with quick, shallow movements, he kept at a steady pace until he was fully seated inside Tony, panting and flushing red from exertion and the effort to keep from finishing too soon.

However, Tony wasn’t willing to wait around much longer. He rotated his hips a bit, humming at the feel of Steve's cock. “Always did like riding,” he muttered, kissing Steve’s chest. He lifted up on his knees until only the tip was inside him, fisted his hands in the sheets on either side of Steve, and plunged back down fast and hard.

Steve growled, deep in the back of his throat, and thrust back against Tony’s moving hips. They set a wild pace, rocking the bed with their movements until the headboard was beating against the wall violently.

Tony’s hands were everywhere, grabbing at Steve’s arms and kneading against his chest. He kissed Steve’s lips, then trailed down to his neck and bit lightly, sucking a bruise at the crook of his neck.

“Fuck, Tony,” Steve gasped, and arched up against Tony again, once, twice, and then he was coming with a blinding intensity.

Tony slowed his movements, grinning at Steve’s look of content. “Not bad, huh?”

“Not bad at all,” Steve replied. He pulled out and slipped the condom off quickly. “Your turn.”

He grabbed Tony’s hips and pulled him up, over his chest until his cock was right against Steve’s mouth. Licking his lips, he leaned up and sucked Tony down again.

He heard Tony groan and saw him grab the headboard with both hands again, and then Tony was moaning and rocking forward into Steve’s mouth. Steve gripped his hips and licked around the swollen head.

“Fuck, sugarplum, that feels… so… fucking… good,” he gasped, thrusting in with each word. Steve hummed when he felt the man’s cock brush the back of his throat. “Gonna… fuck, baby, I'm gonna co—” he gasped and cut off, coming with one last small shove of his hips.

Steve pulled back from Tony’s cock with a small _pop,_ and grinned when Tony collapsed against his chest with a satisfied sigh. “Not bad?”

Tony poked his arm and kissed Steve’s chest. “Fucking fantastic, more like. I vote we do that again sometime. Rigorously and with much repetition.”

Steve paused. He was more than a little tipsy from the terrible booze and coming down from a major post- coital high, but he still understood the gist of what Tony was suggesting. “You mean, like… fuck buddies?” he asked.

Tony nuzzled his neck and pressed a quick kiss under his ear. “Only if you’re up for it, kitten.”

Fuck it. Steve was reckless and drunk and madly in love with the man in bed with him. _You only live once, right?_ “That… that sounds good. More than good. But the nicknames really aren’t necessary.” There was something a little undignified about being called ‘sugarplum’ while he had some guy’s dick in his mouth.

Tony grinned. “You fucking love the pet names, admit it. You almost came a couple times thanks to them.”

Steve wasn’t really in the mood to deny anything.

\--------------------

“I may or may not have accidentally had sex with Steve Rogers last night.”

Bruce didn’t even bother looking up from his textbook. “I really ought to be more surprised than I am,” he replied.

Tony flopped on Bruce’s bed and stared up at the ceiling. “You remember how he was all skinny and short in high school? Well, either he was born with a ‘natural gift’ to make up for that or else I'm joining the Army tomorrow because hot damn—”

“I really don’t want to hear this—”

“—that man’s cock could move mountains.”

Bruce sighed.

“Seriously, it was like having sex with a yard stick,” Tony continued. “Only smoother and warmer and less… splintery.”

“And now I have that mental image, thanks so much.” Bruce shut his book and swiveled around to face Tony. “You gonna ask him out?”

Tony grinned. “Even better. We’ve mutually agreed to be regular fuck buddies.”

“What happened to your gorgeous- eyed anonymous soulmate?”

Tony waved towards the window and sighed dramatically. “He’s obviously still out there, but it could take years to run into him again. And until then, I'm having hot, casual sex with a man that looks like an underwear model and is hung like a horse.”

“And there’s _that_ mental image, too.” Bruce rolled his eyes and turned back to his desk. “I think you should ask Steve out instead. He was always a good guy, and if the sex as really as good as you say…”

“It’s better, I'm just running out of metaphors.”

“Then you’ll at least have something interesting to do with each other.”

“But _Bruce_ ,” Tony whined. “I can’t cheat on my soulmate by dating someone else _and_ have sex with them. I have to pick one, and sex is way more fun.”

“I don’t think you quite understand the concept of ‘cheating’, Tony.”

“Semantics. The point is, I’ve given my heart to that one guy I had a drunken one- night stand with three years ago whose name I never managed to get before we were chased out by cops, and I can’t just go giving it away to every blonde haired all- American slice of perfection that bats his eyelashes at me and agrees to really great sex.”

Bruce cleaned his glasses and rubbed his temples. “Your priorities are so messed up. Didn’t you have a crush on Steve in high school?”

Tony shrugged. “Sure, freshman year. And sophomore. And part of junior.” Bruce arched an eyebrow. “Okay, all of junior year.”

“And senior year, right up to that graduation party. Look, I just think you should… you know, try with Steve. You already know you like him. What if Mr. Perfect from graduation is secretly an asshole?”

“You didn’t meet him, you didn’t see him like I did.” Tony sat up. “He was… I don’t know, there was something about him. It felt like taking someone’s innocence, like… elegant, sort of, like I was part of something of his that was deep and…” He noticed Bruce look incredulous and groaned, flopping back down. “Never mind. It’s impossible to explain, but it was… beautiful.”

“Even more beautiful than Steve- sex?” Bruce asked.

Tony shrugged again. “Steve- sex was great, really great, like _oh- my- god- yes_ great. And Steve- kisses are like kissing candy and sunshine. That man has a set of lips that could make Jesus Christ a little gay. But it was different, I guess.”

Bruce cleaned his glasses again. Tony had always had a weird habit of latching on to strangers and forcing himself into their lives. It was how the two of them had met, actually. Tony had just walked into science club freshman year, sat on Bruce’s desk, and declared that he had seen Bruce in the hall and decided they were going to be friends. It was just how Tony was.

“Whatever you do, just make sure no one gets hurt,” he warned Tony. “Don’t get too involved, you know that friends- with- benefits rarely end well anyways.”

“I won’t get involved. Strictly sex.” Tony grinned. “Besides, Steve and I are complete opposites in every way. Could you imagine if we _dated_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone should keep a tally of how many times I use a variance of the word "thrust" in this story. Because I feel like it's a lot. Also, I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but I was working on a story that I just realized I hated and then I hit major writer's block and couldn't think of what to write. I should have the next chapter of War Was in Color up soon, but until then enjoy Stony fuck buddy sex. :D


	5. Cheap Booze and Broken Hearts

Tony knew he had a commitment issue. It had always been that way. He’d avoid making friends or having relationships for as long as possible, until something inside him burst and he latched on to the first person he happened to see. That was how he met Bruce, how he met Pepper, how he met… well, anyone.

So after avoiding all human contact for seven weeks before the graduation party, it stood to reason that he’d end up latching on to someone else—like a skinny drunk kid with eyes that lit up like starlight and a voice sweeter and smoother than honey. Unfortunately, he was so drunk that he couldn’t remember the guy’s face.

He told Bruce that the guy was his soulmate, but Tony wasn’t entirely convinced. Sure, he believed in soulmates, or he at least wanted to, but the thought that some higher power had decided to make someone suffer alongside Tony for the rest of their lives was a little miserable. Tony knew he had commitment issues, but he also knew he had a lot more problems that just that. He was a narcissist, and too smart for his own good, and even though he was flawless at working a large crowd or party he was so socially stunted when it came to small groups and individuals that it had taken him years just to make even one friend. He drank too much and slept too little, and he couldn’t make a relationship last to save his life. His longest girlfriend had lasted all of two months. And that had been Pepper. As far as guys went, they rarely lasted longer than a night.

And now he had gone and found a fuck buddy on top of everything.

The worst part was, he still liked Steve. A lot. There was a reason that Steve had reminded him of apple pie in the pizzeria that first day, and it was because high school Steve had always reminded him of apple pie. He was sweet and warm and everything good in the world. And in bed he was completely mind- blowing (to be honest, he had totally daydreamed about being Steve’s first, but sexually experienced Steve was better than anything he could have ever imagined).

So Tony tried to figure out how to have a relationship with Steve. He thought about asking him to dinner, or lunch, or coffee. He imagined what it would be like to kiss Steve in public—just to even _hold his hand_ in public—and got all shivery. But then he ran into a serious problem: Steve had agreed to be fuck buddies. Nothing more. Which might mean that Steve was only interested in sex. And sex with Tony was pretty fantastic, he could admit that, but maybe Steve didn’t actually _like_ Tony. At least, not enough to want to start a relationship with him. Or anything more than casual sex. And hell, he’d probably get bored of that with Tony, too.

And besides, Tony already had a soulmate. And as emotionally stunted as that fake relationship was, he wasn’t really ready to give the idea up.

“Tony. Tony. Tony!”

Tony blinked and glared up at Clint, who handed him another shot glass full of something hard enough to strip the enamel on Tony’s teeth. “Don’t wuss out on me, Stark.”

He and Clint were doing one of those movie drinking games. They’d put on the Pirates of the Caribbean and took a drink of beer every time Jack waved his hands around wildly and shots every time something romantic popped up. Clint called it the “I Found the Rum” game. Natasha called it alcohol poisoning.

“You ever fall in love?” Tony asked suddenly, sitting up with a groan.

“Sorry, man, but I only like you as a friend.”

“Not me, you asshole.” Tony took the shot and downed it in one quick gulp, grimacing at the burn down his throat. “Just in general. Just… love.”

Clint shrugged. “Thought I did, once. Girl named Jessica. Dated her for… five years? Four years? Hang on.” He turned on the couch and cried, “Hey Nat!”

“What?” Natasha called down. She spent most of her time at their house these days. Tony had honestly never seen Bruce so happy.

“How long did I date Jessica?”

“Four years? Five years? Something like that,” she replied.

Clint turned back to him and shrugged. “Yeah, basically.”

“What happened?”

“She went crazy on me when I applied for college. Something about caring for ‘my’ future more than ‘our’ future. I realized she was batshit insane and dumped her quick.”

Well. That was encouraging.

“Why d’you ask?” Clint nudged him.

Tony did his best to look nonchalant. “Just. You know. I never felt that way about anyone. Just figuring out what it feels like, all that.”

On screen, Jack waggled his fingers around. Clint passed him a fresh beer and cracked his own open. “It’s… I don’t know, it’s like… falling? Or flying? Something weird where your feet aren’t on the ground anymore and you just wanna spend all your time with them and never let them go.” Clint shrugged again, sipping his beer. “I'm really not drunk enough to keep talking about this, though.”

“Agreed.” Tony downed half his beer and settled in to watch the rest of the movie.

Steve texted him halfway through _At World’s End._ Tony was really too drunk to read most of the message, but the words ‘come’ and ‘sex’ filtered through his muddled brain, and he tapped a quick ‘yes please’ back before slumping over the arm of the couch.

“Steve’s comin’ over,” he slurred. Clint’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Why would’e do a thing like tha’?” he asked.

Tony punched his arm lightly. “Can’ tell ya. But you gotta go, else he’ll get mad at you. Take a taxi.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Clint stood on shaky feet and stumbled towards the door. Tony stretched out on the couch and watched him struggle with his jacket before snapping off a mock salute. “See ya later, Stark.” The door clicked and he was gone.

Tony stared at the screen, watching Johnny Depp make a fool of himself. The third one really hadn’t been very good, but he was so drunk that suddenly everything seemed hilarious.

“Tony. Tony.” He snapped awake and smiled up at Steve, who was leaning over the back of the couch and shaking his shoulder. When did Steve get here? And why did he care, when Steve looked _so_ pretty?

“Hey, fuck buddy. Let’s go have sex.” He stood up, grabbed Steve’s shirt collar, and dragged him towards the stairs.

“Tony, you’re drunk.” Steve almost sounded amused.

“’Course I'm drunk, ‘cause Clint’s a fucking lightweight an’ I gotta do half his shots. Come on, sex time.”

“We’re not having sex when you’re this drunk, Tony.” Steve caught his wrist gently and tugged him along upstairs. “Come on, I’ll get you to bed.”

“Only if you promise to be in it. Naked. And also we can have sex. Then I’ll go to sleep.”

“Really subtle, Tony.” Steve sure liked saying his name a lot.

“Not aimin’ for subtle. Aimin’ for sex. Chop chop, pudding cup.” Tony took the lead again and steered Steve through the hall and to his own bedroom. It was small, and Bruce and him shared the bathroom that connected their rooms, but it was private enough that Tony could get his hands down Steve’s pants without anyone judging them. So that’s exactly what he did.

Steve groaned lightly, kissing Tony and wrapping an arm around his waist. _At least I know he’s into the sex,_ Tony thought, nipping at his lower lip.

Tony had had fuck buddies before, but none of them quite like Steve. For one thing, Steve liked kissing. Like, _really_ liked kissing. Tony was almost sure he could get off on it. And he actually liked Tony’s pet names. No one ever liked Tony’s pet names. They tolerated them sometimes, but even Pepper had told him they were too much. But in the month they’d been fuck buddies, Steve had never complained about the names. He almost acted like he got off on that, too. It was really, really hot.

Tony really wasn’t above using that to get what he wanted. Namely, Steve naked in his bed.

“Come on, sunshine, into the bed,” he murmured. Steve sighed against his lips and let Tony drag him onto the bed and on top of him with a small bounce.

“You’re really drunk, Tony,” Steve whispered.

“I seem to recall bein’ pretty drunk when we first had sex, and you weren’t complainin’ then,” he replied, kissing down Steve’s jaw and neck.

“I was really drunk, too.” Steve shivered a bit when Tony nipped at a spot right behind his ear. Tony made sure to remember that spot for later.

“Well, now you’re sober, so that’s even better for you. Savor it. Enjoy it. Take your pants off.”

Steve chuckled and rolled to settle against Tony’s side. “Let’s get you sobered up first, then we’ll talk about taking off articles of clothing.”

Tony huffed and collapsed against the bed. He _had_ to pick the fuck buddy with unquestionable morals. “Fine. Can we at least, like, make out a little?”

Steve considered him for a moment, and Tony saw something light up deep in his eyes. Before he could question it, Steve was leaning over him again and pressing his lips to Tony’s.

Steve- kisses really were the greatest.

\--------------------

Steve was in a daze.

Tony wanted to _kiss_ him. No sex, just kissing. At least until he was more sober. Steve had never had a fuck buddy before, but he was pretty sure they didn’t just lie around lazily kissing and stroking gentle fingers across chests and down arms. But that was exactly what Tony was doing.

Some small, scared voice in the back of his head reminded him that Tony was drunk and probably didn’t fully understand the implications of what he was doing. That Tony had asked him to be his _fuck_ _buddy_ , and that meant that Tony wasn’t looking for a committed relationship. At least, not with Steve.

But Tony was so sweet and gentle, pouring everything into the kiss, and Steve didn’t quite know how to handle that. It was almost overpowering.

He was in way too deep and he didn’t care.

\--------------------

It went on like this for two months. Tony and Steve acted like they were nothing more than friends in public, and then Steve would get a text in the middle of the night saying something along the lines of _come take my pants off_ or _you would look really good naked in my bed right now_ and off he’d go.

They never went to Steve’s apartment. Steve really didn’t read into that, but every once in a while it struck him as odd. He wrote it off as Tony being more comfortable in his own bed, even though he and Tony had actually _started_ their relationship in a stranger’s bed.

Nevertheless, Steve was content. He might never be able to date Tony, or kiss him in public or tell him how he really felt, but he could have this. This was enough for Steve.

“You know this relationship with Stark is incredibly messed up, right?” Natasha asked. She was lying on Steve’s bed, watching while he finished his math homework.

Steve sighed and rubbed his forehead. He had confided in Natasha about him and Tony being fuck buddies and was starting to really regret it. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Ask him on a date?” Natasha replied. “Funny thing about relationships, someone usually has to ask someone else out on a real date. Look where that landed me.”

“Tony and I aren’t _in_ a relationship. We’re just friends…”

“Who happen to fuck each other on occasion?” Natasha finished. She snorted and rolled over on her stomach. “That should end well. I thought you had a crush on Tony.”

“That was in high school. It was ages ago.”

“Sure it was, Steve. You have no feelings for him right now. None whatsoever.”

Steve really regretted telling her.

That night, he lay awake, staring at the glow of his phone screen. Tony had texted him almost an hour ago.

_house is empty. wanna come have couch sex in the living room?_

His mind was screaming for him to cut tail and run, now, and tell Tony this had to end. It was insane, whatever he had going on.

 _Now is not the time to have an existential crisis, Rogers,_ he chided himself. Standing up, he headed outside and knocked on Natasha’s apartment door. She answered after a few minutes and glared up at him.

“Should I tell Tony that we can’t see each other anymore?”

Natasha snorted and rubbed her forehead. “For Christ’s sake, Steve, it’s 2 am. Just go fuck him and worry about this some other time.”

“But you’re right— I do have feelings for him. What if it gets awkward and he doesn’t want to even see me anymore?”

“Steve, I am dating Tony’s roommate. Tony likes you. All I hear about, all he talks about, is how great you are.”

“Yeah, in bed, sure,” Steve argued. “But what about everything else? What about wanting to actually _be_ with me?”

“Christ, you two sound like a couple of teenage girls.” Natasha smacked his arm and shooed him backwards. “All I know is that if you don’t go over there and figure this shit out you’re going to really regret it, okay?”

\--------------------

Steve was assaulted before he even managed to get the door open.

“Hi where were you who cares let’s have sex,” Tony rushed, pulling Steve down by his shirt collar and pressing his lips to Steve’s.

“I… I…” Steve tried between kisses. He pulled back a bit and grinned. “I was talking to Natasha.”

“I hate her more than life itself, come on and let’s bang.”

Tony pulled him in and slammed the door shut behind them. He shooed Steve over into the living room, grabbed him again by the front of his shirt, and kissed him again. “Come on, couch, let’s go, chop chop.”

“Do you really want to have sex on a couch, Tony?” Steve asked, wrapping an arm around Tony’s waist.

“You bet your ass I do. And speaking of asses, you just sit yours right there and don’t stop being beautiful.” Tony pushed on his shoulders until Steve obligingly sat on the sofa, then ran upstairs. Steve heard banging and muffled cursing, and then Tony was rushing back down, taking the steps three at a time.

“What’s the rush?” Steve asked when Tony tossed the lube and condoms on the couch next to Steve and stripped off his shirt and pants. Normally Tony liked when Steve undressed him.

“Rhodey’ll be home any minute and I really, _really_ want couch sex. Take off your pants.” Steve struggled out of them, only managing to push them halfway down his legs before Tony was on top of him.

It was hasty, fast sex. Tony opened himself up quickly and put the condom on Steve before pushing down on his cock with a moan. He set a brutal pace, hot and demanding and Steve really couldn’t do much more than kiss Tony and let him fuck himself onto his dick. He loved it.

When they were done, Tony redressed them hastily before pulling Steve up the stairs and into his bedroom.

“Come on, time for round two,” he insisted. He stripped them down again and pushed Steve down to lie flat on the bed.

“I think I need a few minutes,” Steve replied.

Tony leaned down and kissed Steve’s bare chest. “That’s alright, wiggles, I’ll make out with you until you’re ready.”

Steve blinked up a Tony, and his mouth stretched into a smile. “Wiggles?” he squeaked, holding back a laugh.

Tony grinned. “Too much? I’ve been looking pet names up online, some of them are amazing. Wait, hang on, I’ll get my phone.” He slid off Steve and grabbed his pants. “Here, hang on.” Flopping back on the bed beside Steve, he scrolled through the phone for a bit. “How about ‘sex muffin’? That one was pretty popular. Or ‘hotcakes’? Baby cheeks? Sugar bear? Wuggle bunny?”

Steve lost it. He rolled on his side, buried his face in his hands, and laughed harder than he had in a long time. Every once in a while he would get control of himself, look up at Tony’s smirking face, and would lose it all over again.

“Please don’t ever call me those during sex,” he gasped, rolling on his back again.

“Aw, come on, I bet you’d love it, kitten whiskers.”

Steve lost it again.

\--------------------

The most terrible, awful thing that could ever happen in someone’s life happened two and a half months into Steve and Tony’s fling.

Tony got back together with his ex.

“Her name’s Christine,” Natasha explained. “She’s a communications major, wants to be a journalist or something. She goes to Brown, but she’s taking the semester off for ‘recreational purposes’, which is code for ‘re- seducing Tony Stark and getting drunk at Harvard parties’.”

“I hate her,” Steve muttered. He was lying face first on his bed and hadn’t moved in two hours. He was contemplating never moving again.

Natasha handed him a beer and flicked her own open. “Apparently she and Tony went to the same party, got drunk, and wound up in bed together.”

Steve snorted derisively. “He sure has a habit of doing that,” he said bitterly. It wasn’t really fair, being this angry at Tony, but Steve couldn’t help it. He knew they were never exclusive, knew they weren’t actually _dating_ , and maybe that meant Steve had no right to some kind of warning, but he thought he _deserved_ one, damn it.

 _Besides,_ the sadistic, bitter voice in his head reminded him, _you always hoped that Tony would fall in love with you while you were having sex together._

“If I were a lesser person, I would remind you that I warned you this exact thing might happen,” Natasha said. She slid on the bed and leaned against the headboard. “But I'm sure you’re already beating yourself up over this enough, so I'm just going to tell you that you have a right to be mad.”

_You bet your ass I do._

“It doesn’t matter,” Steve said instead. He rolled onto his back and chugged his beer. “We were never anything special, anything exclusive. He had every right to get together with someone.”

Natasha hummed noncommittally. “I would also like to remind you that you now have the right to go date someone else in an attempt to make him jealous.”

“Make who jealous?” Bucky asked from the doorway. Steve groaned. He _really_ wasn’t in the mood for Bucky’s jabs about all this.

“Just a… bad break- up,” Natasha told Bucky. “Come on in, we’re gonna get drunk and watch _Love Actually._ ”

“Aw, I love that movie.” Bucky hopped on the bed and grabbed a beer. “Who’d you break up with, Steve? I didn’t even know you were dating someone.”

“It was… casual,” Steve said lamely. Bucky just shrugged and sipped his beer.

“Whatever. Nat’s right, though, you should totally go make him jealous. Find a cute frat guy, bang his brains out, post pics to the Internet and let the green monster burn.”

“You’ve really thought this out for someone who doesn’t do more than one- night stands,” Natasha said.

“I get all my relationship advice from bad rom- coms,” Bucky replied. “All the best break- up movies involve sexual revenge of the highest degree. There’s a party tonight that Clint told me about, and we should definitely go and find you a cute guy to have all sorts of depraved sex with.”

“No,” Steve said quickly. If Clint had suggested a party, he had probably heard about it from Tony. The last thing Steve wanted was to run into Tony while drunk at some party. “I’d rather just stay here tonight, thanks.”

“Suit yourself. We’ll go get you laid tomorrow night.” Bucky lay down and scooted in between Natasha and Steve. “Now put on the movie, I wanna watch Liam Neeson connect with the cute British kid.”

As much as Steve appreciated his friends, he was still miserable. Tony hadn’t texted him in five days, and Steve had avoided even going over to their house for what was now dubbed “Friday Fun Night”. A childish and petty part of him wanted to make Tony squirm a bit. He wanted Tony to feel just a little bit guilty about all of this, about not even bothering to give Steve some kind of warning.

He was a miserable, selfish human being.

\--------------------

“You are such an asshole.”

Tony groaned and rolled onto his back. “Can I help you?” he muttered, glaring up at Pepper.

“You can grow up and get yourself out of these messed up relationships. Tony, I haven’t even seen Steve in almost ten days.” Pepper sat on the bed beside Tony. “You went and ruined the one good thing you had in your life, all because you got drunk and couldn’t keep it in your pants.”

“Pep, for the last time, I don’t think Christine and I _actually_ had sex that night,” Tony replied. The last thing he remembered was seeing Christine and getting drunk with her ‘for old times sake’ as Christine had put it. The next morning, he had awoken, naked and confused, next to Christine in bed.

“Tony, you were stone cold drunk. You get unbelievably horny when you’re drunk. You were in bed with your hot ex- girlfriend, naked and drunk. In what world does that _not_ imply you had sex with her?”

“I don’t know,” Tony said, exasperated. “I just… I don’t think I would do that. You know. To Steve.” He felt horrible about it. He knew Steve deserved an explanation—or a warning, at least, from Tony—but Clint had gone and told everyone before Tony even had the chance to send a ‘sorry I maybe had drunk ex sex last night’ text. Now, he was so ashamed he couldn’t even bring himself to text Steve anything.

“Hasn’t stopped you before.”

Tony cringed. “That hurts, Pep.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Like I care. You deserve it, with everything that’s happened. I thought you really liked Steve, I thought you were going to try and ask him out.”

Tony neglected to mention that that was exactly the reason he had gotten drunk that night—he had been working up the courage to call Steve and ask him to dinner. “Yeah, well, it’s not like we were actually dating,” he said instead. “Steve probably didn’t want to date me, anyways.”

Pepper sighed and rubbed her temples. “You’re so emotionally stunted you can’t even tell when someone else even likes you. This is so typical, I swear. It’s like watching a teenage soap opera.”

“Don’t you compare my life to that shit.”

“That’s what it is, Tony!” Pepper stood and smacked Tony with a pillow. “You have two options at this point. You can continue this fucked up, halfway- relationship with Christine that she’s told everyone you’ve started, or you can end it now, go find Steve and beg his forgiveness, and get back the one good thing you’ve ever had.”

“That’s a lot of pressure on me to pick, Pepper Pot.”

“It should be an easy choice, you jackass.” Pepper walked away from the bed, pausing at the doorway. “Tony, Steve really likes you. You should at least try and talk to him, or else you’re going to lose a friend, too.” With that, she closed the door and was gone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to state, here and now, for the record, that I love Jessica Drew. I think she is a badass and a fantastic character and it's a damn shame that's she's drawn by misogynistic assholes that objectify her body and contort her in unnatural positions for the purpose of making her more "sexy". I used her name for the sole purpose of giving Clint an ex to talk about, and I had already used Barbara's name in an earlier chapter. 
> 
> I would also like to state that I am having way too much fun writing clueless Tony's drunk mistakes and his continual search for his soulmate. 
> 
> Also oops I slipped and wrote two chapters for this in a matter of days. I really need to write for The War Was in Color. I swear on my life, that's next. It'll be out soon. I swear.


	6. Drunk in Love

Steve had never had a vengeful streak. He’d always considered himself a patient and forgiving person, always ready to make up with a friend after an argument and forget past mistakes.

But after his initial depression, he wanted to get back at Tony more than anything.

“I told you, revenge is the best weapon a person can use,” Natasha said. “Go find someone, get drunk, forget Tony for a night, and if word just _happens_ to get around to Tony that you had really awesome sex and he wasn’t involved—well, it’s not like he can say anything.”

“You really think I should?” he asked. She patted his leg and stood up to refill their coffee cups.

“I told you from the beginning you should.”

Clint nodded from the couch. “She’s right, Steve. Whoever it is that you’re broken- hearted over, nothing cures it faster than a good fuck from a drunk stranger you meet at a party.”

“Clint would know, he’s practically a whore for that stuff,” Bucky said. Clint threw an orange from the bowl at him.

“Kappa Delta’s throwing a party tonight at their house,” Sam commented. “And I heard that there’s always someone willing to bang at those things.”

Natasha leaned over Steve’s shoulder as she set the coffee cup down next to him. “And Tony’s sure to be there, since that’s Rhodey’s fraternity,” she whispered. Steve smiled.

“Perfect,” he replied. “I say let’s go.”

Part of him felt guilty over being so vindictive, but he was beyond caring at this point. All he wanted was for Tony to feel something, _anything_ of what Steve had felt when he found out Tony had gotten back with his ex- girlfriend.

He’d seen Christine, too, and the worst part was that she was _gorgeous._ Pepper had pointed her out on campus once, saying something about how she was always around even though she didn’t go to school in Massachusetts, but all Steve could focus on was her perfect figure and perfect blonde hair and perfect smile.

He hated her.

Grabbing the cup of coffee, he downed it in one long swallow and stood. “Guess I better find something to wear if I'm going out man hunting,” he joked. Natasha grinned and pushed him towards his bedroom.

“I’ll help. The key to revenge by jealousy is that you have to look amazing.”

\--------------------

The party was loud, cramped, and loaded with booze. Natasha had agreed to go with Steve, at least at first, so he didn’t look like a joke showing up by himself. It was already packed by the time they arrived, to the point where both the front and back yards were crowded with people, as well.

“Do you see Bruce?” Natasha asked. Steve peered through the crowd and pointed to a corner near the kitchen.

“Over there,” he said. Natasha leaned up and kissed Steve’s cheek quickly.

“Go get something to drink, and mingle with the crowd,” she said. “Have fun, and don’t worry about anything else, okay?” He nodded, and she disappeared.

Steve headed straight for the old wooden table in the backyard that held the alcohol. He considered grabbing a bottle of beer, then decided against it and went for the hard alcohol. _Might as well get an early start,_ he thought.

He was on his third shot when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Rotten day or nervous in crowds?” a voice said.

Steve turned and came face- to- face with a younger man in a leather jacket. He was smiling warmly, glancing down at Steve’s half- full cup with raised eyebrows. Steve noticed he was attractive, in a rugged sort of way—longer brown hair, light brown eyes, easygoing manner. He smiled and swallowed another mouthful of his drink.

“A little of both,” he admitted. The man laughed and reached around him to grab one of the cups.

“I hear you. Never liked being around this many people, but my buddy’s president of this frat and dragged me along. I’m Jack, by the way.”

Steve shook his hand with another smile. He liked the man’s accent—a low, soft, Midwestern drawl. “Steve. Steve Rogers.”

“Pleased to meet you, Steve Rogers.” Jack leaned back against the table and took a drink from his cup. “Say, you in the mood to dance? Figured, you know, since we were here and the music’s playing…”

“I’d like that, yeah,” Steve interrupted. He finished his drink and threw the cup away, then grabbed Jack’s wrist lightly and tugged him towards the patio. Jack laughed and followed willingly.

Jack stuck near him for the rest of the night, saying “us socially awkward folks should stick together”. Steve liked him more and more as they talked and drank while everyone around them continued to rave. Jack was witty, carefree, and smart. He was easy to talk to and always had a joke or a story to keep the conversation going.

“Can I ask you something a little awkward?” Jack asked at one point. Steve nodded while he poured their drinks. “So, uh, I might be reading this wrong, but… any chance you’re into guys?”

Steve smiled nervously and nodded again. “Yeah,” he said. “I mean, I like some girls, but mostly… mostly guys.”

Jack smiled and leaned a little closer. “Good. I mean, yeah. That’s good, because… in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve sort of been flirting.”

Steve handed Jack his drink and leaned against the counter, letting his shoulder brush Jack’s. “Yeah,” he murmured. “Same here.”

Jack chuckled. “Good. Just checking.” And then they were back into their conversation, carrying on as though nothing had changed.

Three hours into the party and Steve was pleasantly buzzed. The room swam a little, tipping as he walked. He glanced over at Jack and saw that his cheeks were flushed and eyes were bright with the booze, and took a chance.

“Mind if I kiss you?” he asked. Jack grinned and leaned forward.

“Was thinking you’d never ask.” And then his lips were on Steve’s and he was pushed lightly against the wall with Jack’s fingers tangled in his hair.

It was a warm, pleasant kiss. Jack took his time, rubbing slowly against Steve and nipping at his lips unhurriedly. Steve felt Jack lick at his lower lip and opened his mouth eagerly to meet him halfway.

It was almost perfect, except that Jack smelled like cologne and fresh soap, and not metal and sandalwood. And Jack was the same height as Steve, pressing against him evenly from top to bottom. And Jack tasted like mint toothpaste instead of coffee.

It was almost perfect, except that Jack wasn’t Tony. But Steve would take what he could get.

\--------------------

“I hate this party,” Tony grumbled. He was in the kitchen with Bruce, Natasha, and Pepper, glaring at everyone who passed them by. He was well on his way to drunk right now, but still felt empty enough that he wanted more.

“Then why did you come?” Natasha asked. She was curled against Bruce’s side, fingers tangled in his shirt.

Tony shrugged. “Christine wanted to. Said she’d never been to a real frat party before. Apparently everyone at Brown really is as stuffy as they want you to think.” Except now Christine was off with some ditzy girls she’d met as soon as they got here and Tony hadn’t seen her all night.

“I honestly have no idea why you’re with her again,” Pepper muttered. “She’s vain, shallow, and bitchy, and she was definitely judging me yesterday when I had three slices of pizza.”

“I know, I know all that,” Tony replied. He finished his drink and reached for another. “You think I wanted to get back with her? I was drunk, it was stupid, I regret it more than ever.”

“Then break up with her,” Bruce said. “Why are you staying with her when you could be with someone else, someone better?”

Tony heard the unspoken ‘ _someone like Steve’_ in that sentence and sighed. He hadn’t seen or heard from Steve for over five weeks, since he and Christine had somehow ended up together again. Tony had almost called multiple times, and once he’d even made it to the second ring, but he was a coward at heart and couldn’t follow through with anything he started. Story of his life.

“I need another drink,” he said. Pepper handed him a cup and frowned when he filled it to the brim with some clear alcohol from a bottle on the table next to him.

Bruce looked like he was about to say more, but something in Natasha’s eyes changed and she tugged him away from the counter and into the living room. “Come on, you’re drunk enough that we can go dance,” she said. Bruce smiled and followed her out, shooting an apologetic glance to Tony as he left.

“Tony,” Pepper started. Tony groaned. He could sense one of Pepper’s motivational speeches gearing up and wasn’t _nearly_ drunk enough for that.

“Pep, please, I'm really not in the mood,” he muttered. She ignored him and poured herself another drink.

“I know you’re afraid of getting in a relationship with Steve—God knows why, since he’s basically perfect for you—but you have to understand that he was the best thing—”

“The best thing that could have happened to me, I know,” Tony finished. “You’ve said that before.”

“Because it’s true,” Pepper argued. “When you and Steve were together, even just as fuck buddies, you were eating more regularly, sleeping more regularly, drinking less, studying more. You were smiling and genuinely happy, not fake- happy like you get sometimes when you don’t want people to know that you’re depressed.”

“I don’t get fake- happy!” Tony protested.

“You’re fake- happy right now,” Pepper replied. “Whenever Christine is around you act like nothing’s wrong, but I know better. There are dark circles under your eyes and you’re actively trying to get yourself drunk.”

“Just ‘cause this party sucks,” Tony muttered. “I’m gonna go find a beer, I’ll be right back.”

Without waiting for a response, Tony pushed off the counter and stumbled into the other room in search of a cooler. He pushed through mobs of people, dancing and laughing together, and rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to be here, he wanted to be back home with a piece of machinery and Steve looking at him with those warm, bright eyes—

Tony froze. Across the room, backed into a corner with his lips locked with some other guy’s, was Steve. Steve, _his_ Steve, was making out with someone else, pressing up against him, tangling his fingers in the guy’s hair, rubbing his fingers over his arms.

Steve was kissing another guy. And apparently very much enjoying himself.

Tony turned, stumbled away into the bathroom, and promptly emptied his stomach in the toilet.

\--------------------

Jack’s hands were warm on Steve’s skin. One hand was trailing up and down his back, carefully pressing Steve closer into Jack, and the other was firm on his hip. Steve kept his hands tangled in Jack’s hair and angled closer, aiming to lick farther into Jack’s mouth.

The alcohol was _definitely_ affecting him now, leaving his skin tingling and flushed. Jack was drunk, too, based on the taste of vodka in his mouth and the gentle sway in his movements.

“Wanna go somewhere a little more private?” Jack whispered when Steve pulled away for air.

Steve swallowed and licked his lips. He knew it would eventually lead to this, but he honestly wasn’t sure what he wanted anymore. The alcohol was blurring everything, muddling his thoughts until he couldn’t think straight.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Not sure. Gimme a second.”

Jack grinned and leaned forward for another kiss. “No problems here. Take your time, sweetheart.”

Steve felt his heart jolt. _Sweetheart._ No one got to call him that, no one had the right to call him that except for Tony, his Tony, that wasn’t right—

But then Steve remembered that Tony wasn’t his, that Tony was with that awful Christine and had just fucked Steve over without even so much as a warning or message, not even an apology and it had been _five fucking weeks_ and suddenly all he wanted was to show Tony that Steve was over it, over him.

“Actually, I don’t need to take my time,” Steve said. “Let’s go get another drink and then find somewhere else.”

Jack grinned and pulled him off the wall. “Sounds like a plan to me,” he said.

Steve followed him into another room, noting that the music was quieter in here. Jack grabbed two cups and handed one to Steve, who found a half- empty bottle of vodka and poured a healthy measure in both cups.

As Steve took a drink from his cup, he noticed Jack’s eyes were watching him hungrily. He smiled and licked his lips again, watching the other man’s pupils dilate.

 _I want this,_ Steve reminded himself. _I deserve to let loose, to have fun._

\--------------------

Tony finished yet another drink and tossed the cup in the general vicinity of a trashcan. “I hate him,” he muttered. He and Pepper had collapsed on a ratty sofa after Tony had returned from the bathroom after puking his guts out and told her what he had seen. She had just ‘tsked’ and led him into a quieter room in the house.

“Who?” Pepper asked. “Steve?”

“’Course not. Tha’ leather jacket wearin’ Rambo wannabe he’s lockin’ lips with,” Tony slurred. “What the hell does that jackass have that I don’t?”

“Tony, you’re dating Christine,” Pepper reminded him.

“Not ‘cause I wanna!” Tony protested. “She dragged me into it, I didn’t agree to anythin’, I wasn’ even goin’ to that stupid party to find someone, I was just tryin’ to get some booze so I could work up the courage to ask Steve out…”

“Tony, you’re not making any sense. Here, drink some water,” Pepper said gently. Tony felt her press a bottle into his hand and absently gulped the warm water.

“I was at that party ‘cause I was nervous, and wanted t’ ask Steve on a date, ‘cause Steve is perfect an’ warm an’ he cuddles so nice, like a big teddy bear,” Tony mumbled. “An’ Steve smells like firewood an’ fresh air an’ he’s got all this smooth skin an’ when he laughs his eyes light up like Christmas an’ he still blushes even though he’s totally no’ innocent anymore.”

“Oh, Tony,” Pepper just sighed.

Tony slid further into the couch and traded the water bottle for another cup of booze. “Tha’ guy doesn’ deserve Steve,” he insisted. “Steve deserves someone perfect.”

“Someone like you?”

Tony laughed bitterly and shook his head. “I’m no’ perfect,” he replied. “I’m so far from perfect, I’m the ‘pposite of perfect, don’ deserve anythin’ like Steve.”

From the other room, Steve pulled away from the biker- lookalike, and the other man took the opportunity to whisper something in Steve’s ear. Tony saw Steve flush a bit and groaned. It wasn’t _fair._

“Look at that. He’s askin’ Steve somethin’, like fo’ sex or somethin’, and Steve’s jus’ goin’ along with it,” Tony said. “God, Steve’s gonna go with this guy and I can’ do anythin’ about it ‘cause I'm with fucking _Christine._ ”

“Tony,” Pepper said gently. Tony turned and managed to look her in the eye, noting that she looking almost sad. “Tony, do you want to be with Christine? Do you want to keep dating her?”

Tony snorted. “’Course not. Never did, never liked her, even when we were firs’ goin’ out. She’s a bitch an’ a stuck- up snoot an’ _she’s no’ Steve_.”

“What about that deal with your ‘soulmate’?” Pepper asked next. “Remember, you said you didn’t want to get involved with someone in case you find your soulmate again?”

Tony shook his head and let it flop against the couch cushion. “No, no, I don’ care abou’ my soulmate ‘cause it’s Steve, ‘cause Steve’s my soulmate an’—”

He froze and blinked. “Steve’s my soulmate,” he whispered. He turned to Pepper and shook her arm. “Pep, Pep, Steve’s my soulmate, it’s him!”

“Calm down, Tony,” Pepper replied. She grabbed his hand and held it firmly in her lap. “What are you saying?”

“Steve, he an’ I, we wen’ t’ high school together, he was there at the party, at graduation,” Tony explained. “He was so skinny then, so short an’ cute an’ skinny, an’ I always had a crush on him, always liked him, so I was drinkin’ and kep’ lookin’ at him an’ then I said ‘fuck it’ an’ wen’ over an’ flirted, an’ Steve flirted _back_ , an’ then we had _amazin’, mind-blowin’_ sex an’ I _forgot_ ‘till now ‘cause I was so drunk then, but it was him.” Tony collapsed back against the couch arm. “It was him,” he breathed.

Steve, his perfect, wonderful Steve, had been there at the graduation party. Had been with him that night. Perfect, wonderful Steve had been there all along and Tony hadn’t even realized it until now.

Pepper smiled at him and kissed his cheek quickly. “Tony, you have to tell him,” she said. “You have to tell him before Steve does something or moves on and you lose him forever. Ask his forgiveness, tell him it was all a mistake, get on your knees and beg if you have to. Get back the best thing you ever had.”

“Bu’ he’s with Mr. Perfect Hair over there,” Tony complained. He glanced over and saw that Steve and what’s-his-name were in the same room as him and Pepper now, drinking from red cups and staring at each other. He wanted to puke again, either from the sickening eye- sex display or the frankly ridiculous amount of alcohol he’d consumed.

Pepper stood and helped Tony to his feet. “Come on, let’s go get you some more water and get you a little more sobered up,” she said. “Then you can go over and ask Steve if you can talk to him alone, okay?”

Tony nodded and blindly followed Pepper out, glancing behind him to watch Steve sadly. That was _his_ soulmate, _his_ man, and damned if he wasn’t going to do everything possible to get him back.

\--------------------

Jack’s lips were back on Steve’s when Steve felt the other man’s phone ring. Groaning, Jack pulled back just enough for him to grab his phone from his pocket and flip it open.

“Sorry, hang on a sec,” he apologized. Steve nodded and leaned back against the wall, trying to catch his breath while Jack answered the phone.

While Jack was talking, Steve let his eyes wander through the crowd. It was getting late, but the party was still in full swing. Everyone was slowly getting more and more drunk, and— _there_. There, in the corner on a ragged sofa, was Tony. He was slouched over, talking to Pepper and sipping from a plastic cup. Steve felt his heart clench. It didn’t look like Christine was with them, but she might have just gone to the bathroom or left early for some reason. Steve hadn’t heard anything about her and Tony breaking up, so he assumed that Tony was still taken.

Good. It was just as well. Steve was better off without Tony.

“Hey, sorry about that,” Jack said. He closed his phone and pushed off the wall, looking apologetic. “My roommate’s trashed and can’t drive, and he’s got a test early tomorrow morning so I’ve gotta drive him home.” He looked at Steve hopefully. “Rain check on this?”

Steve smiled and leaned forward to kiss Jack one last time. “Sure,” he said. He liked Jack well enough, and wanted to see more of him. “See you later.”

Jack grinned and gave one last bite to Steve’s lower lip. “See you around.” With that, he pushed through the crowd and was gone.

Steve leaned back against the wall and shook his head to try and clear it. The room was definitely spinning more than he’d like.

“Sounds like you had a good night,” a voice next to him said. Steve froze and swore under his breath. He turned to face Tony and put on his best dismissive face.

“None of your business if I did,” he retorted. He thought he saw Tony wince, but shrugged it off. So what if Tony was hurt by that? He’d abandoned Steve, left him for some blonde woman, without so much as a text. Steve had earned the right to throw a few jabs at Tony.

“Steve, I just wanted to say—” Tony started, but Steve cut him off.

“Save it, Stark,” he growled. “I don’t wanna hear anything from you, you had your chance and now—”

“I’m trying to make things right!” Tony protested. “I need to tell you—”

“I said I don’t want to hear it!”

“Why won’t you just let me say what I need to?”

“Because if I do you’ll try to convince me that what you did was okay, that you weren’t at fault, that I should just _forgive you_ —”

“I’m not trying to say that, of course not, I just want you to listen—”

“I don’t want to listen to you ever again!”

Steve wasn’t sure what happened next, but suddenly Tony’s lips were on his, hot and wet, and they were stumbling towards the nearest empty room and slamming the door shut. Tony was already writhing under Steve’s hands, tangling his fingers in Steve’s hair and pulling hard. Steve grabbed the bottom of Tony’s shirt and ripped it up and over Tony’s arms, throwing it to the floor along with his own.

Tony was so warm, so hot under Steve’s fingers. They stumbled further into the room, and Tony tripped over something and fell, pulling Steve down with him until they were on the floor, rolling on top of each other and grasping at bare skin with fevered hands.

“Fuck, yes, Steve, please, thought about this so much, wanted this so badly,” Tony rambled. He fumbled with Steve’s belt and yanked it away before unbuttoning his jeans. “Missed you, missed this, fuck, baby, please…”

Steve groaned against Tony’s mouth and reached up to tug at Tony’s hair. Tony bared his neck for Steve and sighed when Steve’s lips trailed a path down his shoulder and over his collarbone, down to Tony’s nipples where he licked gently and sucked one into his mouth.

“Please, please,” Tony breathed. “Please, come on, fuck me, sweetheart.”

Steve snapped when he heard Tony use that name. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the condom and lube Natasha had slipped him earlier that night.

Steve pushed Tony’s jeans down, fumbling with the material until it finally came off and Tony’s legs were free again. Without further warning, Steve shoved his hand inside Tony’s boxers and pulled at his hard cock a few times. Tony hissed and arched up to meet his hand.

“Yes, fuck, God that’s so good,” Tony panted. Steve was rock hard against Tony’s thigh, but he focused on the other man first. Pulling away, he managed to tear the lube open with shaking hands and slicked his fingers up before pushing one inside Tony. “ _Fuck,”_ Tony moaned.

Steve opened him up quickly, pushing in one finger, then two, then three until Tony was writhing against him when Steve found his prostate and pushed against it hard.

“Now, angel, come on, please,” Tony whispered. He tangled his fingers in Steve’s hair again and pulled him down for a kiss, licking against his lips and into his mouth. “Want you now, need you to fuck me, need to feel you inside me.”

Steve pulled his fingers out and ripped the condom wrapper open. He managed to get it on and poured the rest of the lube on his cock, then lined up and pushed into Tony with a soft moan. Wrapping one hand around Tony, he set a brutal pace, fucking into Tony and jerking him off at the same speed.

“God, beloved, just like that,” Tony said breathlessly. “Just like that, right there, so good, so—fuck, fuck, _Steve.”_

Tony was coming then, long white stripes coating his and Steve’s chests as he shuddered and moaned. Steve kept going, driving into him over and over while Tony reached up and kissed him. He put everything he had into his thrusts, every unrequited feeling he’d ever carried for Tony, every night he’d lain in bed alone, angry and depressed and thinking about how much he wanted Tony there beside him.

He came without warning, shouting a muffled curse against Tony’s lips. Tony just sighed and licked into his mouth, stroking his hands up and down Steve’s back while Steve finished and came down from his orgasm.

In the silence of the room, it hit Steve all at once: what they’d done, who he was _with_. He gasped and pulled away, sitting up and pulling out of Tony. Tony sat up with him, leaning back on his hands and watching Steve with wide eyes.

“Steve, please—” he started, but Steve shook his head and stood up. He tugged his pants back up and buttoned them, then grabbed his shirt and stumbled out of the room without looking back, not trusting himself to look at Tony’s hurt expression.

When he made it outside, he stumbled a little ways down the street before it became too much and he leaned over and emptied his stomach in a nearby bush. _God,_ he and Tony had just… just fucked, just gone at each other with no control. Was this what it would be like, for the rest of college? Just mindless, unemotional sex with the man he loved more than anything? Was he doomed to stay stuck in this rut forever?

Steve felt sick long after his stomach was empty. He shook his head, clearing the rest of the alcohol from his mind until all he felt was a miserable emptiness. He couldn’t do that again.

He wouldn’t do that again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S DONE. IT'S FINALLY DONE. 
> 
> So, so incredibly sorry this took as long as it did, but I got caught up in my new story called Signs of Life and became focused on that so much I kept putting this one off. But it's here, it's great, it's drunken sex, and most importantly, Tony now knows who his soulmate is. WHOOP.
> 
> I know the relationship tags say Clint/Coulson is in this story, and I wanted to let you know that while it is in here some, it's very minor, just like the Thor/Jane Foster ship. The main pairings that you see in this fic are Tony/Steve (duh) and Natasha/Bruce. 
> 
> PS: The character Steve is with, Jack, is actually Jack Monroe, who was Nomad and one of the Buckys in the comics.
> 
> PPS: There's a lot of drunk sex in this fic, and it's important to note that being drunk does NOT equal consent. Only if both parties are willing is it consent. Since both parties are willing in this fic at all times, it is consent (even if Steve regrets it later).


	7. Cookie Dough Heartbreak

Tony locked himself in the garage for four days straight.

When he emerged, he was dehydrated, half- starved, and carrying a brand new toaster.

“For bagels,” he explained to Pepper while he went about setting it up in the kitchen. “And, like, PopTarts and stuff, I don’t know.”

“Tony, why would you do that to yourself?” Pepper asked. Tony just shrugged and plugged the toaster in.

“I’m gonna… go upstairs, or something,” he mumbled. Pepper sighed and watched him stumble away. She sent a quick text to Natasha— ** _it’s worse than we thought. i’m breaking out the cookie dough_** —and followed Tony.

Upstairs, Tony stripped his sweatshirt off and flopped onto the bed face first. Pepper watched him from the doorway before carefully sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked gently. Tony shook his head. “Want to eat raw cookie dough and watch _Flubber_?”

A pause, then he nodded and sat up. She curled next to him against the wall and grabbed the TV remote.

It was half an hour and three quarters of the cookie dough before Tony spoke again. “How come I always fuck these things up?” he whispered.

Pepper shook her head without taking her eyes off the movie. “You don’t fuck them up, Tony, you’re just oblivious to feelings.”

Tony curled deeper into the bed and grabbed another spoonful of cookie dough. “I just… I really liked Steve,” he said after a moment.

“Do you? Or do you just like the idea of Steve, since he’s your proclaimed ‘soulmate’?”

Tony shook his head. “No, I don’t… I just started that mostly to mess with Bruce. I never thought I’d actually see that boy… I mean, graduation night, with him, it was amazing, but I didn’t even know who it was. But with Steve, it’s like… he’s just… he’s so _nice_.”

Pepper leaned back and arced an eyebrow at Tony. “You want to rant about him, don’t you?”

“Kind of.”

She paused the movie. “Go on.”

Tony shot up and sat cross-legged facing her. “It’s like… he’s smart, and he has this sense of humor that you don’t know he has until he says something funny, and he’s really sweet and kind and he wouldn’t hurt anyone, not intentionally, but he’s so loyal, too, and if you get him talking about the Army his eyes get all big and he smiles and he’s just so _excited_ to serve his country and, like, who does that? Who’s that excited about being sent over to a desert country to get shot at? But he is, ‘cause he’s gonna save America or something, and it’s just not fair!”

“It’s not fair that he’s more American than hot dogs and baseball?” Pepper smiled.

Tony sighed. “No, it’s not fair because I shouldn’t be this fucking upset over him because we slept together once like three years ago and I didn’t even remember him, and then we were fucking for like two months, and I never even went on a real fucking date with this man but I'm pining like I've lost my one true love, and that’s bullshit! I feel like I'm in a bad romance movie, like Ryan Gosling and I are gonna kiss in the rain or Matthew McConaughey’s gonna give me life advice in his lame Southern accent. This isn’t what real life is like, why the fuck does this happen to _me?”_

“Oh, Tony,” Pepper just sighed.

\--------------------

After the disaster of a party, Steve had gone home, changed into his comfiest pajamas, and promptly slept for sixteen hours straight. After that he ran nine miles and ate seven eggs, and then when he ran out of things to do he sat on the couch and put on _Happy Days_ reruns.

“This is pathetic,” Bucky said when he came home that afternoon. “I don’t know who you’re pining over, but you need to get over them or get back together with them pronto.”

“I’m not pining over anyone,” Steve muttered. He curled up under the blanket his mom had sent him and turned the volume up.

“All you’ve done is sleep, run, and eat ridiculous amounts of food. This is exactly what happened when you and Peggy broke up.”

“And when you and Sharon broke up,” Sam added form the doorway. He came in and dropped a plastic bag on Steve’s lap. “I brought you some comfort food. Nothing says ‘woe is me’ like cookie dough ice cream and boxed wine.”

“I’m not pining,” Steve repeated stubbornly. Still, he opened up the ice cream carton and grabbed the spoon Bucky handed him.

Bucky snorted and collapsed on the sofa next to him. “You’re pathetic. So, who’re you whining over now?”

Steve just shrugged and shoveled more ice cream into his mouth. He still hadn’t told Sam or Bucky about his and Tony’s not- relationship, and now that it had blown up in his face he really didn’t feel like bringing it up. “No one you know,” he said simply.

“That’s bullshit,” Sam replied. “If we guess it right, will you tell us?”

“Wait, wait, let me start,” Bucky said. He sat forward and pretended to consider it for a moment. Steve rolled his eyes. “Wait, tell me you and Peggy didn’t get back together.”

“Peggy and I didn’t get back together.” As far as Steve knew, Peggy was dating Gabe Jones from Steve’s biology class.

“You and Sharon?”

“It’s not an ex- girlfriend.”

“But it is someone, you admit,” Sam pressed.

Steve slouched down and scooped more ice cream into his mouth. “Maybe,” he muttered.

“Boy or girl?” Bucky asked.

“You’re supposed to be guessing.”

“Fine. I can do this all night, I’m just gonna start saying names. Pepper? Darcy? Coulson?”

“Pretty sure he and Clint are a thing,” Sam said. He went over to their fridge and grabbed two beers, tossing one to Bucky. “No one’ll confirm it, but they’re always making eyes at each other and sitting uncomfortably close on the couch.”

“Wait.” Bucky’s head snapped up and he gaped at Steve. Steve flushed and wished he could sink into the couch. “Holy shit. Making eyes, sitting close. Are you and—”

“Please don’t say it,” Steve begged. Bucky ignored him.

“You and _Stark?!_ ”

Steve groaned and reached for the wine Sam had bought him. Normally he hated the stuff, but right now Steve wanted to get good and drunk and forget this entire night after it happened.

Sam choked on his beer and burst out laughing. “Tony Stark?” he stammered. “You and Tony were bumping uglies? Oh my god, that explains so much.”

“Do you really have to describe it like that?” Steve mumbled. He downed a quarter of the wine in one gulp and ate another bite of ice cream.

“How would you describe it? _Making love?_ ” Bucky snickered and starting flipping channels.

Steve hit him with a pillow. “Can we _please_ just leave it alone?”

Bucky held up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay, we won’t get into the sordid details,” he said. “But what’s got you so down? You guys break up?”

“There was never anything to break up over,” Steve replied.

“Bullshit again,” Sam said. “You’re sitting on the couch wearing bright red flannel pajama pants and eating ice cream by the gallon. And you were watching _Happy Days_. No one watches _Happy Days_ unless they’re heartbroken or eighty years old.”

“We were just… fuck buddies,” Steve admitted finally. “Nothing more.”

Bucky frowned. “Wait, I thought Tony was with that blonde chick? Chrissy, or Catherine, or—”

“ _Christine_ ,” Steve spat.

Sam whistled. “That was a lot of venom. Someone sounds bitter.”

Steve sighed and finished off the wine. It took a lot more than that to get him drunk, so he stood up and headed for the fridge for a beer of his own. “It’s complicated,” he said quietly.

Bucky muted the TV and crossed his legs. “Okay. Sounds serious.”

Sam nodded and finished off his beer. “Spill. We’re listening.”

Sometimes Steve really hated his friends. But at times like this, he couldn’t be more grateful. For the next half hour, he drank with them and told them every detail he could think of—getting drunk at high school graduation and sleeping with Tony, then getting drunk at the first party and sleeping with him again, then two months of wild sex and one- sided hopeless love on Steve’s part, ending with “that awful” Christine coming back and having angry, drunk sex with Tony at the party the night before.

“Wow. You really need to stop drinking, you get _way_ too horny,” Bucky said when Steve was done.

“So you’ve been in love with him since high school?” Sam asked. Steve nodded.

“Since freshman year. I thought I was over him until he showed up again here, and now…”

“You’ve circled back to hopelessly in love again,” Bucky finished. He sat up and tossed his empty beer can into the trash. “So that night at graduation, that shirt was Tony’s?”

Steve nodded guiltily. “I… still have it,” he admitted. “In the bottom of my drawer. I can’t wear it anymore, obviously, but… it’s nice, knowing it’s there.”

“Man, have you got it bad.” Sam shook his head. “So what are you gonna do?”

“Nothing,” Steve said quickly. “Last night was an enormous mistake, and Tony’s still with that awful Christine and there’s nothing I can do about that. Clearly he’s happy with her, and I'm not going to be his side thing just because he wants to be with her. It… it was just a mistake.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a mistake,” Bucky offered. “Maybe last night was his way of saying he’s choosing you over her.”

“Why would he?” Steve snorted. He knew he sounded bitter, but he was just drunk enough not to care. “He chose her over me first, when he got back together with her without even telling me. I was just… I was nothing to him.”

Bucky sighed and caught the beer Sam threw at him. “This sucks,” he said. “Tony’s an asshole, and you can do better than him, okay? If you want, we can go out and find you a nice guy to help you get over him.”

“That’s the worst thing,” Steve said miserably. “There was a guy, last night, named Jack. He was great, smart and funny and _decent_ , and then as soon as he left I ended up with Tony all over again. It’s like some vicious cycle.”

Sam and Bucky exchanged a look over Steve’s head. “Alright, fine,” Sam said. “Let’s find a bad movie and make popcorn and eat ice cream, and we’ll let you get over it yourself. Sometimes you just need to be miserable for a bit.”

Sometimes Steve really loved his friends.

\--------------------

“Tony, it’s been two weeks. You can’t wallow in your room sulking forever.” Pepper pounded on the door again and sighed. Bruce leaned against the wall next to her with his arms crossed.

“Still not budging, huh?” he asked.

“He’s acting like some preteen girl,” she mumbled. “If he’s really this miserable he should _get off his ass and go get Steve back.”_ She shouted the last part and emphasized it with another pound at the door.

“Bite me, Pep,” a voice shouted from the other side. Pepper glared at the offending white wood and gave it a good kick before turning away.

“I’ve tried everything,” she told Bruce. “He doesn’t want to move on and get over Steve, he doesn’t want to date anyone else, and he doesn’t want to go get Steve back. At this rate he’s doomed to die in that goddamn bedroom.”

“Maybe someone should go talk to Steve,” Bruce offered. “You know, if Tony won’t go to him, get Steve to come here?”

Pepper thought about it. “Steve _is_ more reasonable than Tony,” she mused. “But Natasha’s already tried talking sense into him, and Steve’s at the same point Tony is.”

“Maybe one of us should go talk to Steve.”

Pepper gave the door one last glare. “I’m willing to try anything at this point. You text Nat and ask her if that would work. If she says yes, I’ll go over there tonight.”

Two hours later, Pepper found herself outside Steve’s apartment. Natasha peeked out from her own apartment and flashed a thumbs- up. “It’s unlocked. Let me know how it goes,” she said. Pepper nodded and Natasha disappeared again.

Pepper sighed and pushed the door open. The front room was empty, but she could hear the shower running in the back. It turned off a second later and Steve appeared with a towel wrapped around his waist.

He froze when he saw her. “Pepper? Wh… what are you doing here?”

Pepper spared a quick appreciative glance at him before resolutely turning away. She could see why Tony had called him an Adonis during one of his many lamentations.

“I came to talk some sense into you,” she replied. “About Tony.”

Steve’s face paled and he scratched his head awkwardly. “Um, Pepper, I’d love to chat, but I’m really just swamped with—”

“Steve.” He stopped when she crossed her arms and gave him a look. “This is ridiculous. Get dressed and sit down, we’re going to talk this out because frankly I can’t handle more of Tony’s griping and whining.”

“Tony… he’s been upset?” Steve looked genuinely confused. “About us?”

Pepper sighed and rubbed her temples. “You two are ridiculous. Go put some pants on and let’s talk.”

When Steve reappeared in lounge pants and a shirt, Pepper was putting coffee on in his kitchen. “I’m not doing this without lots of caffeine,” she explained. He nodded and sat at the table. “So, where should I start?”

“At… the beginning? You said Tony was upset?”

Pepper handed him a coffee mug and sat down across from him. “Okay, I’m just going to be blunt. Steve, Tony’s head over heels in love with you but his self- esteem is too low and his sense of pride too high for him to admit it.”

Steve almost dropped his coffee mug. “He—”

“I can tell you’re about to panic, so let me just finish explaining,” Pepper interrupted. “Tony’s apparently been in love with you since your freshman year of high school, he realized at the party a few weeks ago that you were his apparent ‘soulmate’ that he’s been raving about since he slept with him— er, you— at the graduation party senior year. And then when you two started… whatever it is you guys have been doing recently… he fell in love with you again. You know, without realizing it was _you_ you.”

Steve blinked. Slowly, he picked up his mug and took a sip. “Huh,” he finally managed.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Coherent words would be nice.”

“Sorry, just…” Steve let out a breath and took another sip of coffee. “Tony… is… in love… with me.”

“Oh, good, a full sentence.”

“How is this possible?” Steve asked. “I mean, he’s dating—”

“Christine and Tony broke up weeks ago. After he realized how much he loved you while you were at that frat party.”

Steve blinked again. “He’s single?”

Pepper nodded. “Tony never wanted to date Christine. No one’s sure how they ended up together, but when he broke up with her she told him that they hadn’t even slept together that night they got drunk and ended up in bed. Apparently he wouldn’t because he told her there was ‘someone more important’.”

“Someone… more important?”

“ _You_ , you idiot.” Pepper finished her coffee and rinsed out the cup. “Steve, I know Tony’s an idiot,” she said. “Trust me, I do. But he was happy with you, really happy. I know he probably doesn’t deserve it, but… couldn’t you give him one more chance?”

Steve sat in silence for a moment, swirling his coffee in his cup. Finally he stood and put the cup in the sink. “Give me five minutes to change,” he said. “I’ll go over and… talk to him.”

\--------------------

Tony finished his fifth coffee that hour and bent over his latest invention again. It had started out as a robotic vacuum cleaner, but now it was looking more like some… tiny car- fridge mixture thing. Tony still wasn’t sure what exactly it did, but it kept his mind off other things. Other Steve- related things.

Downstairs, he heard someone open the door. “Tony, I’m home!” Pepper called.

“Uh huh,” Tony muttered, fiddling with another wire.

“Tony, someone’s here to see you,” Pepper called again. She sounded closer than before.

“Uh huh.”

“Okay, I’ll just… leave you two.”

Outside Tony’s door, Pepper turned to Steve with a shrug. “Good luck,” she whispered. “I’m going out with Darcy and Jane, I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Steve nodded and watched her go. With a deep breath, he knocked on Tony’s door sharply. “Tony? Can I come in?”

There was silence, and then a large clattering sound. Tony’s muffled cursing followed. Steve tried the doorknob, but it was locked. “Tony?” he tried again.

“Just… um, I’m super busy, Steve, great hearing from you but I’ve got this huge project and tons of homework and I think I'm coming down with some kind of cold—”

Tony sounded borderline manic. Steve was worried he’d set the other man off into some kind of episode, but it was too late to stop now. “Tony, I really wanted to talk,” he said softly. “Can you please open the door?”

“I would, Steve, really, but I’m just so sick.” Tony faked a cough and another loud crash echoed through the house. “Plus, you know, all these inventions everywhere, it’s a dangerous place, like a hazard zone, or whatever…”

“Fine. I’ll sit out here then.” Steve sat down and leaned against the door. “And you’re going to sit there and listen to what I have to say, okay?”

Tony considered going out the window quietly before Steve could talk. Unfortunately, it was the second story, and the pavement was right below his window. He’d probably end up breaking something, and then Steve could corner him in the hospital or something and Tony would have to listen then. _Maybe I can pretend I'm having a seizure. Or I can tell him I'm getting married next week. And then I can move far, far away from here, like to Malibu. California’s nice this time of year._

“Tony, there’s no escaping this,” Steve called. “Please, I just want to talk.”

“I’m super busy, Steve, really,” Tony stammered. “Please, I—”

“I had a crush on you in high school,” Steve interrupted. Tony stared at the door. “Since freshman year science class. I was scrawny back then, always getting picked on and beat up. And you were so confident, so sure of yourself, and you walked in to the class and just radiated self- presence, and I was pretty much gone.”

“Gone?” Tony whispered.

Steve apparently didn’t hear him. “During the party at graduation, I knew who you were, but I figured we’d never see each other again and… god, Tony, I just _wanted_ it so badly. Just once. And then I saw you at the pizza place, and it was like high school all over again. And the sex… it was like I was finally content. It felt right, Tony, and then I found out you got together with Christine—”

Oh god. There it was.

Steve sighed. “It really hurt,” he said. Tony wanted to sink into the floor right there. “I thought, I couldn’t mean anything o you if you could just throw me away like that when you found someone else—”

“No!” Tony blurted out. He slapped his hand over his mouth and groaned.

“I know that now,” Steve replied. “But I was so angry then, and that’s why I went to that frat party and ended up with Jack.” That must’ve been the guy in the leather jacket Steve had been making out with. Tony hated him more than ever.

“But even then I was thinking of you,” Steve finished. Tony blinked and sat up. “It was a mistake, us ending up together that night, because you were still with Christine and the last thing I want is to be your side thing… but Pepper told me you and Christine were over.”

Tony slid off the bed and silently walked towards the door. He sat down on the floor in front of it. “We are,” he whispered.

For a moment it was silent, the two of them listening to each other breathe.

“Tony,” Steve said finally. “Can you open the door?”

Tony stood up and heard Steve do the same. He took a deep breath and cracked the door just barely.

God, Steve looked amazing. He was all muscly and tall and blonde and… Tony shook his head to clear it.

“Why’d you come over?” he asked. “What is this about?”

Steve shrugged, looking bashful. “I wanted to tell you how I felt. And… I wanted to ask you. Out. Properly, you know.”

Tony blinked and let the door open a bit more. “Out?”

“On a date,” Steve clarified.

“Can we…” Tony took a deep breath and tried again. “Can you look past everything?”

Steve shrugged again. “Actually, I was hoping we could start over.”

Tony snorted. “Start over?” he asked incredulously. “How so?”

Steve held out his hand. “Hi,” he grinned. “I’m Steve Rogers. I'm a Cancer, and a junior majoring in art at Boston College. I like dogs, and the color blue, and Italian food. I'm in the US Army on leave for college, and I want to design art concepts for movies and TV shows afterwards.”

Tony stared at Steve’s hand. Slowly, he reached out and shook it.

_Oh my god, Steve’s giving me a second chance._

He smiled despite himself. “Tony Stark. I’m a Gemini. I go to MIT for mechanical engineering. I like cats, and red, and Chinese. I want to invent everyday things to make life easier for people. Oh, and I have to take over my dad’s company.”

“So basically we’re complete opposites,” Steve grinned. He dropped his hand and shoved it in his jeans pocket. “But there’s this really cliché saying that opposites attract, so I was thinking… maybe I could take you out to dinner tomorrow? For pizza?”

Tony blushed. He scuffed his bare foot against the carpet and leaned against the doorframe. “I’d like that,” he murmured.

Steve leaned over without warning and kissed his cheek. “Good,” he whispered. Tony blushed even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOO I finished this chapter (I know I said 'by the end of this week' last week, but technically it depends on when you start the week so if I don't start the new week till Wednesday I'm still within my deadline. Score.)
> 
> I have no idea when I'll finish this story. Next chapter is their first date, and I also wanna write some stuff of them with an established relationship in college, so maybe I'll just continue this story forever.


	8. Our First Date

Tony was dying.

“You’re not dying, Tony, you’re so overdramatic,” Pepper sighed. She attempted to smooth Tony’s tangled hair one more time before giving up and brushing imaginary dust off his shoulder instead.

“You don’t know that. I could answer that door and drop dead from panic, and _then_ who’d be overdramatic?” Tony retorted. It wasn’t his best comeback, but he cut himself some slack since this was literally the most stressful night of his life.

Perfect, wonderful Steve had given him a second chance. They’d started over and Steve had asked him out tonight to dinner. Actual, real dinner with actual, real food at an actual, real restaurant.

Tony was dying.

“Just remember not to talk too much about yourself, ask him questions, too,” Pepper reminded him. “And don’t spend the whole night looking like a deer in the headlights, okay?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I'm completely relaxed.” Tony shot her what he hoped was a convincing smile. Apparently Pepper wasn’t buying it, because she rolled her eyes and smoothed down Tony’s shirt again.

The doorbell rang at precisely seven o’clock, and Tony swallowed hard before barreling down the stairs. “I got it, no one else answer it, I can get it!” he called. Clint rolled his eyes from where he was sitting on the couch next to Coulson.

“No one’s gonna answer the goddamn door, calm down,” he said.

“Don’t you have your own house? Why aren’t you ever there?” Tony snapped back before swinging the door open.

Steve was kicking softly at the ground, but he looked up and smiled at Tony when he heard the door open. “Hi,” he said quietly.

Tony swallowed again. “Hi,” he replied. God, this shouldn’t be so hard. He and Steve had had _sex_ for Christ’s sake, Steve’s _dick_ had been in his _ass_ multiple times, and he still felt like a teenage girl greeting her homecoming date.

“Are you ready to go?” Steve asked. Tony nodded and grabbed his wallet and phone.

“You got a condom?” he heard Clint call. He flipped the man off without looking back and slammed the door behind him.

It was a perfect night, so he and Steve walked the three blocks to the pizza place. They were mostly quiet along the way, keeping the conversation light and casual. It was nice. Tony felt himself relaxing with every step.

 _I can do this. This is Steve, I know this,_ he thought to himself.

They arrived at the restaurant, and Steve actually held the door open for him, which was absolutely the most adorable thing Tony had ever seen. It was fairly empty inside, so they found a booth out of the way and sat across from each other.

Tony grabbed a straw and tore at the paper idly. “So...”

Steve smiled and grabbed his hand. “Tony, this shouldn’t be awkward. You know that, right?”

Tony stared at their interlocked fingers, watched as Steve gently traced the curve of his hand with his thumb. He smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, I know it.”

After that, it was easy. They ordered a large pizza and finished it between the two of them, and Steve told Tony all about his future plans and Tony told Steve about learning how to run his dad’s company. By the end of the night, the table was littered with napkins and empty plastic cups and Tony felt like he knew everything about Steve.

“I’ll walk you home,” Steve said as they left. Tony nodded and, without thinking, grabbed Steve’s hand to tug him along.

“Come on, the night’s still young and I just bought _Jersey Boys_ ,” he said excitedly. Steve laced their fingers together and followed him, laughing the whole way.

Clint and Coulson were still hogging the couch, watching _Star Trek_ and laughing at Shatner’s acting, so Tony and Steve went upstairs and curled up together on Tony’s bed.

“You know I never saw this movie in theaters,” Steve commented while the other man set the movie up.

Tony turned and let out a fake gasp. “Well, I never!” he exclaimed. “I don’t think we can be friends anymore, Steven. This is _unacceptable._ ”

Steve snorted and pulled Tony on the bed next to him. “You’re ridiculous,” he muttered.

“Shut up and watch the movie.”

Halfway through, Tony scooted over and carefully, ever so slowly, leaned against Steve’s shoulder. Steve just grinned and grabbed Tony’s hand again, leaning down so Tony could settle mort comfortably against him.

“Steve?” Tony whispered.

“Hmm.”

Tony sighed and bit his lower lip. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured. “I… I never said that, and it was all just so stupid, what I did. I made a really terrible, really horrible mistake, and I—”

“Tony, it’s okay,” Steve soothed. “I forgive you, really.” He paused the movie and turned to face the smaller man.

Tony did the same, crossing his legs and leaning forward anxiously. “I know, and that’s what makes you so amazing and perfect and wonderful, but hear me out. I don’t… I don’t want to put you through that again, ever. So… I have this idea, if you want.”

“Let’s hear it,” Steve replied. He traced the line of Tony’s hand again with his thumb, and Tony breathed to relax himself.

“I’m not gonna have sex with you,” he started. Steve frowned in confusion, and Tony realized how that sounded and backtracked. “I don’t mean, like, ever, obviously. ‘Cause sex with you is great, really fantastic and I love it, I mean it. But…” He fiddled with Steve’s hand and bit his lip again. “I wanna know you,” he finally said. “Really know you. I don’t want this to be like last time, I don’t… I don’t want us to be fuck buddies. Or anything near that. I want… I wanna _date_ you.”

Steve smiled, slow and sweet and full of hope, and Tony basically melted. “You really mean that?” he asked.

Tony nodded and grinned back. “Yeah, definitely,” he nodded. “You’re, like, the first person I’ve _really_ wanted to date. I want to do this right.”

There was a pause, heavy in the air. Tony felt his heart rate increase, pumping in his chest madly, because what if Steve wanted to have sex and now Tony had ruined everything y saying he didn’t want it right now? What if Steve left and Tony was alone again—

And then Steve was kissing him chastely, and every thought aside from Steve’s warm lips fled Tony’s mind. He leaned forward a bit, steadying himself with his hands, and kissed back, pouring every emotion he had right now into this perfect, wonderful kiss with this perfect, wonderful man.

Tony was dying.

\--------------------

Three blissful, amazing, incomparable months later, and he and Steve were officially a couple. They’d become the sappy, lovesick pair in their group—always holding hands and whispering to each other during movies and smiling like dopes at each other all the time. The rest of the group had learned to ignore it.

They were sitting on a blanket under a tree, talking quietly while Tony finished his paper for advanced mechanics. Steve was idly sketching in his notebook, but every once in a while he’d glance up and shoot Tony a smile so warm it melted his poor heart until he was basically putty in Steve’s hands.

“Do you want to go out tonight?” Steve asked as he drew. “There’s a new burger place that just opened up on Main Street, and it sounds—”

“You had me at burgers,” Tony interrupted. Steve grinned and leaned over to kiss Tony quickly. “What was that for?”

Steve shrugged. “Just because.”

“You’re a strange man, Rogers.”

“A strange man who’s hopelessly in love,” Steve replied.

Tony froze and stared up at Steve, who continued to draw as though he hadn’t just kicked the world out from under Tony’s feet. “Huh?” he managed.

Steve looked up and frowned in confusion. “I said ‘a strange man who’s hopelessly in love’. Are you alright? Is your hearing going or something?”

Tony shook his head and blinked. “No, it’s fine, it’s just you’re in love with me and that’s new.”

Steve closed his notebook and leaned forward carefully. “Tony?” Tony fiddled with his pencil instead of glancing up. Steve tapped under his chin until he finally met the other man’s eyes. “Tony, has no one told you they were in love with you before?” he asked.

Tony shrugged and shook his head. “Yeah, not really. I mean, this is about the longest relationship I’ve had in…ever, so I never really gave it a chance.”

“Three months is the longest relationship you’ve had?”

“Yeah, but to be fair you broke your own record, ‘cause the two months we were fuck buddies was the former longest one.”

“So… wait,” Steve said. “Have you and I been dating longer than you and Christine were dating?”

“We’ve been dating longer than both times Christine and I dated put together,” Tony replied.

“Good.” Steve leaned over and kissed him again. Tony grinned and nipped at Steve’s lip.

“Are you… Steven Rogers, are you possessive?” he asked. Steve shrugged and went back to his drawing.

“You are just adorable,” Tony told him. Steve grinned and smudged a line.

That evening they walked to the burger restaurant Steve had heard about. Tony made sure to hold his hand tightly, figuring it might get him some brownie points if he played along with Steve’s apparent possessiveness (which Tony secretly found incredibly hot). They ordered two burgers and split each in half to share, and Tony stole a few of Steve’s fries even though he had plenty of his own, and when they walked back to Tony’s house he found that he didn’t want the night to end yet.

“Wanna come watch a movie? I got _Lincoln,_ ” Tony said when Steve leaned in to kiss him goodnight. Steve looked up at the house and nodded after a moment, so Tony dragged him inside and plopped him on the bed upstairs.

“Lie down. Stay. Enjoy Daniel Day Lewis,” he commanded.

“Who?” Steve asked. Tony just stared at him blankly until Steve broke out in a grin. “Kidding, kidding.”

“Don’t even joke about that, Rogers.”

Steve pulled him forward until Tony was practically sitting on his lap. “You love it,” he murmured, pressing light kisses to Tony’s jaw and neck.

“I…” Tony froze, mulling over what he would say.

Steve had opened his heart to Tony, had given him a second chance when he didn’t deserve one. He’d never given up on Tony, not all the way. Steve was the constant. Steve was safe.

“I love you,” Tony finished. Steve paused with his lips over Tony’s pulse point.

“Really?” he murmured against Tony’s skin. Tony leaned back so Steve could look him in the eyes.

“Really really,” he replied.

Steve smiled up at him, and Tony felt every bone in his body melt.

Tony leaned over and pressed a kiss to Steve’s lips. “I really did miss you, you know,” he mumbled. “I know it’s fucked up, since… I mean…”

“Shh,” Steve replied. He propped up on his elbows, carded his fingers through Tony’s hair, and pulled him down again for another kiss. Tony’s lips were dry and warm against Steve’s. “It’s behind us now.”

Tony nodded and kissed Steve again. “I swear, seriously, I just… I was so afraid to get close to you, and I thought… I didn’t think… fuck, Steve I… I love you, and I…”

“I know, I know.” Steve kissed him once, then twice, then over and over, soft, biting kisses until they were lost in each other.

At some point Tony shifted until they were laying side-by-side, arms wrapped around each other. The movie was playing in the background, but neither of them was paying attention. “I love you, too,” Steve whispered. He felt Tony smile against his lips and stole another quick kiss. “I love you, and we should have sex.”

Tony pulled back and frowned at him. “Are you sure? I mean, we’ve only had a few real dates, it’s only been three months, and I just wanna do this right this time since—”

Steve cut him off with another kiss. “I love you, and we should have sex.”

Tony blinked up at him, mind racing. Steve stroked his thumb across Tony’s cheek and leaned down to kiss his collarbone. “Only if you want,” he whispered.

Tony grabbed his cheeks and pulled him down for a sweet, gentle kiss. “Yes, yes, yes please right now, let’s pause the movie so we’re not fucking with the Civil War in the background, ‘cause that would be super depressing—”

“You’re rambling, sweetheart,” Steve soothed. Tony froze and blinked at him again.

“Call me a pet name again. Please.”

Steve leaned down and kissed Tony’s left cheek, and then his right. “You should pause the movie now, my love.”

“Oh my god yes.” Tony grabbed the remote and pressed buttons without removing his lips from Steve’s until the TV turned off. He wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck and pulled him in, licking deeper into Steve’s mouth as he did. Steve moaned in appreciation and clenched his hand lightly on Tony’s hip.

“I missed you, too,” Steve murmured when he pulled away. He shifted until he was halfway on top of Tony, propped on one elbow.

Tony grinned up at him and stroked his fingers through Steve’s hair. “Prove it,” he replied. Steve returned the smile and kissed him, pulling Tony’s t-shirt up as he did. Tony lifted his arms obligingly and Steve threw it off to the other side of the room without bothering to see where it would land. He let his fingers trace over Tony’s stomach, up his chest and down his arms over and over until Tony was squirming a bit.

“Your turn,” Tony insisted. He kissed and nipped at Steve’s jawline as he tore at the other man’s shirt. Steve chuckled and leaned back on his knees to help Tony pull the shirt off.

“I forgot how pretty your abs were, I'm so glad I'm dating an Army man, all buff and muscle-y and chiseled—” Steve cut Tony off with another kiss, pushing him back to lie on the bed with his fingers already working at Tony’s zipper.

“This shouldn’t be so hard,” Steve muttered after a minute.

Tony laughed and reached down to help. “There, see? Easy,” he said when they finally got them undone.

“Are you…” Steve froze when he managed to get Tony’s pants down. “Are you wearing Scooby Doo boxers?”

Tony glanced down and bit his lip to keep from laughing. Bruce had gotten him the underwear as a gag gift freshman year, and Tony had a tendency to throw on whatever clothes looked halfway clean. “Umm… yes?” he tried. Steve let his head drop and his shoulders started to shake, and Tony was afraid he’d gone and ruined everything until he heard choked laughter coming form the other man. “Are you laughing at my underwear?” he asked, feigning insult.

“No, of course not,” Steve gasped out. He kissed Tony’s shoulder, still laughing, and leaned down to nip at Tony’s chest playfully. “I would never laugh at you,” he finished when he glanced up.

Tony would have retorted with something witty, he really would have, but Steve’s blue eyes grinning up at him were doing strange and wonderful things for his libido. “Come here, you,” he said instead. “Your pants are still on and frankly that’s a crime against America.”

“Well, in that case…”

Steve’s pants were off in a matter of seconds, and Tony’s utterly awful boxers followed soon. Steve’s underwear, unfortunately, was nothing more than a boring dark blue color, so Tony wasted no time getting rid of them.

He grinned when he glanced down and saw Steve already half-hard. “Well, hello to you, too,” he murmured. Steve snorted and kissed down Tony’s chest and ribs, heading straight for his hips.

“Hold still and let’s see how fast you stand up,” he replied.

“Are we really making dick jokes? ‘Cause I’ll kick your ass, I—” Tony cut off with a soft groan when Steve immediately wrapped his lips around Tony’s cock and sucked hard. “Fuck, never mind, go right ahead,” he sighed.

Tony was hard within no time, aching and writhing on the bed as Steve sucked. He knew Steve was ready, too, but at this point he couldn’t do much more than lie there.

“Okay, wait, I’m seriously about to come and this is way too soon,” Tony said suddenly. Steve gave him one last lick and leaned back up to kiss him. “Please, please Steve,” he begged. “Can you please… can you just fuck me now? Please, I'm not gonna last long—”

“I know, I know,” Steve said. “Me too, I know.”

“Here.” Tony reached over, doing his best to ignore the sensations of Steve sucking light bruises into his neck, and grabbed a condom and lube from the drawer next to his bed. “Here, please.”

Steve smiled crookedly and took the offerings. “You want me to top, or you?” he asked. Tony groaned and let his head fall back.

“Don’t give me that choice, I'm not thinking clearly,” he groaned. Steve just waited patiently until Tony cracked an eye open and glared at him. “Fine,” he huffed. “You, want you inside me _now_.”

“I can do that.” Steve kissed Tony again as he popped the cap on the lube and spread it over his fingers.

“Oh God,” Tony panted when he felt Steve’s finger enter him. It was nice, _so_ nice, and Tony missed this _so_ much. “More, now.”

“Patience,” Steve chided.

“ _More_ , Rogers.”

“Fine. You are so demanding, you know.” Steve obliged him with another finger and Tony let out a choked groan.

“You… you were the idiot— _ah, yes, fuck_ —that wanted to date me,” Tony managed. Steve grinned and kissed Tony’s skin, sucking another bruise into his collarbone. Tony was pretty sure he’d be covered in them by tomorrow. He couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Damn right I did,” Steve replied. He added another finger, and pressed against a spot that made Tony cry out.

“Okay, yeah, fuck me now,” Tony gasped. “Fuck, Steve, baby, _please_.”

Steve sighed contentedly and slipped his fingers out to slick up his cock. “Did I ever tell you exactly how much I like your pet names?” he asked while he opened the condom wrapped and slipped it on.

Tony grinned. “I guessed,” he replied. “There were a few times I almost made you come from them. Now come fuck me, _beloved_.”

“Fuck,” Steve groaned. “Okay, yeah, let’s fuck.”

“Thought we were getting to that ‘till you slowed us down.”

Steve didn’t reply, just lined up and pushed the tip of his cock in quickly. Tony groaned and spread his legs, feet planted on the bed and knees in the air.

Steve didn’t waste much time pushing into Tony slowly. As soon as he was in, he was thrusting with long, hard strokes. Tony made sure to touch every inch of Steve’s skin that he could get to, pressing kisses every where he could reach while Steve fucked him. Wanting to give him at least onehickey, he latched on to Steve’s collarbone and sucked hard. Steve gasped and circled his hips, making sure to press against Tony’s prostate.

“Fuck, I'm gonna come,” Tony panted. Steve did it again, and Tony arched off the bed. “Fuck, yes, _Steve_ —”

Steve followed a second later, bottoming out with a soft groan while he came in sync with Tony.

“I love you,” Tony said happily when Steve collapsed against him. Steve pulled his cock out and threw the condom towards Tony’s trashcan. It missed, but Tony didn’t really have the energy to do anything about that.

“I love you, too,” Steve murmured. He fell over on the bed and pulled Tony into his arms. “You called me Steve.”

“I was under the assumption that’s your name.”

“You’ve only called me Steve once before during sex, and that was when we were drunk at that last party—the one when you were with…” Steve trailed off and shrugged. He didn’t need to finish that sentence.

“Oh yeah.” Tony rolled over and wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck. “Did you… did you like it?” he asked nervously.

“You calling me Steve during sex?” Steve pretended to think, grinning the whole time. Tony smiled and pressed a kiss to the other man’s neck. “I think I could get used to it, yeah.”

“Good.” Tony kissed him and curled into his side. “But I'm not giving up the pet names.”

Steve smiled and kissed the top of Tony’s head gently. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he murmured.

As Tony drifted off to sleep, the last thing he remembered thinking was how safe he felt in his _soulmate’s_ arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of an era. This one was so much fun, though! But now we're on to bigger and better things, and it's time once again for me to get back to the prompt list. So keep an eye out for that!
> 
> The next chapters for Make This Place Your Home and Signs of Life are almost finished, and I'm doing my best to give them to you as a Thanksgiving gift (or if you're not American, then as an "it's-almost-2015" gift). 
> 
> Also, I may or may not be putting out a Bucky/Clint soulmark fic within the next week or so. Because my amazing roommate requested it and I'm a sucker for that ship. Wish me luck!

**Author's Note:**

> What? I made a fic with smut in it? Real, definite smut? Go me! (Side note: writing the first smut part was so hard but I muddled through and I think it actually turned out great so expect more for that. All artists must suffer for their work.) Also guess who loves College AU almost as much as Superfamily? This chick. So get ready for more. Also also, Tony calling people cute pet names—especially Steve— is just about the greatest thing to me, so that's gonna be a running thing. Just a head's up.
> 
> Got an idea for a fic? A prompt you'd like to see? Either leave a comment on this fic OR go to my [tumblr ask box](http://halfway-punk-rock.tumblr.com/ask) and leave it for me! I'd love to hear them!!!


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